This is page numbers 5763 - 5826 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.

Topics

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we are looking at about $10 million -- just over $10 million. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thanks to the Minister. Okay, that was the first part. Second part, when are we going to start spending that money? Thanks, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we are starting to spend the money. We've got a list of all the different projects that we're doing with the revolving fund. And there are things like pre-board screening upgrade, the lounge expansion. The list goes on. I'm not going to use up the Member's time, but we are spending this money. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Are Members able to get that list? Thank you. Member.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'd love to see the list. Does that mean the master plan is now finished; we've got a fully functioning committee, whatever that thing is called, and is appointed by the Minister rather than the deputy minister. So the money's going to start to flow, changes are going to happen. That's what I want to see. People have been paying airport improvement fees for a long time without seeing a lot of progress. You can't even get a cup of coffee apparently on the air side of the terminal at 6 o'clock in the morning. So what's -- when are we going to start spending this money and get some improvements going? Thanks, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as I mentioned, we are spending the money. The YZF master plan is in the final stages. The contractor will present some of the more recent findings, information. We do have a YZF -- it's called the economic advisory committee. So, I mean, this is a committee that continues to meet, and it's made up of a number of people that are impacted at the Yellowknife Airport. The regional office is working with the contractor finalizing some of the data, and we're hoping to update standing committee perhaps in the spring. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. And just to clarify, because I don't know if you got -- the list that you were going to go through, you're able to provide that to the Members?

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we can come back to the Members or whoever's interested in looking at what we've spent out at the Yellowknife Airport in terms of using some of the revolving fund. We can get back and see if we're able to share. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. All right. Are there any further questions? Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. We've come to my favourite part of the main estimates, which is page 285, $127 million we are going to pay in future lease payments largely to one company. But I wanted to start with a question about the new government building, the Sot Dene -- I've actually never said that out loud. The theory was when we spent that $25 million was that it would save us money yet we were required to do a lease to own commitment. I'm just wondering if we've ever followed up with whether that was a cheaper option or a more expensive option to build ourselves a seven-storey office building. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we'll have to -- it's not something we can just answer right now. It's something that we need to look into and perhaps get back to the Member with that. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you for that commitment. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, and part of the reason -- well, I'm interested is because our current leasing policy requires us to do a lease versus ownership analysis every time we enter into a lease. I'm quite confident we're not doing that, especially not on renewals. But could the Minister perhaps commit to looking at all of this leasing money and just doing some sort of desktop lease versus ownership exercise. And I get sometimes we do it for new space but we kind of just seem to roll over and renew the buildings last minute without doing that required analysis as per the policy. Can we do that for our whole portfolio perhaps? Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, when evaluating the lease versus ownership, every scenario is unique. Although the building ownership may provide the best value in one situation, it doesn't mean it's the right approach for all the situations. And I think I've mentioned this before, the larger leases such as office buildings would not -- you know, there's a variety. In some of our communities, we lease from local. Within the larger centres, you know, we have different approaches as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Rylund Johnson

Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize each one's unique. And one of my favourite unique ones is actually not Northview, it's Northern United Place. We signed a long-term lease with Northern United Place. It's allowed them to provide multiple units of discounted housing for vulnerable people for decades. And we were actually willing to pay a little more for that long-term lease knowing that it would be kind of a combined commercial and residential that would house some people. I think it's kind of a great model, and we never did it again for some reason. But I guess in the form of some questions, can someone let me know whether Northern United Place is included in this $127 million of lease commitments, or would that be found under Aurora College? Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Minister.

Diane Archie

Diane Archie Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes, it is.

The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.