Charles Dent

Thank you, Madam Chair. The $115,000 is an estimate provided by Public Works and Services for the cost of tenant improvements for the space.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’m not aware of the terms and conditions in the contract for the restaurant space, nor am I aware of what the plans are for that space through this. So perhaps I could refer the question to Minister McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I am not prepared to address that kind of question in this House. I would submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that this issue has been addressed in this House where a person is named in this House who has no possibility of representing themselves here, and I believe that in the past the Speaker has ruled that that is not admissible. I believe that this is the same situation, because we have now identified two individuals very clearly and they have no way of addressing that in this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Members will remember that when I brought forward the submission or when the supplementary came forward in June, there was money in there for the operations and maintenance of a separate legal aid clinic, but there was no money to actually fit up the clinic. All it was was the O and M costs. So had we not agreed to do a special warrant, we would be waiting until this session right now to be considering this money before we could even advertise for space for the clinic. So there would be no possible way that we could get the clinic working this...

Thank you, Madam Chair. To the best of my knowledge, the per square metre costs are all the costs that we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, $4.6 million is clearly being spent on work related to what CATSA has required. However, as a result of that work, as I said we got a significant amount of money that has to be spent on the apron and areas outside. CATSA has refused to agree that they are responsible for any of those kinds of expenses. So they are willing to pay for the changes that are required in the building to put in their equipment and…(inaudible)…changes that are required because we are putting in their equipment they are not paying for. So it’s hard to see that it’s $4.6 million for...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The amounts for this, including the $266,000, by the way, were based on estimates for the cost of operation. So the $266,000 that was approved in June in the supplementary appropriation was an estimate of the cost to operate the clinic for this year. The ongoing amounts that we are putting in through the business plan are estimates because we haven’t actually set up the office. The same is true for the cost to do the tenant improvements; that is entirely an estimate based on the cost per square foot that Public Works is finding that we spend on fitting up space in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Section 33(1) of the Financial Administration Act outlines the rules for a special warrant. First of all, the expenditure has to be urgently required. The expenditure has to be in the public interest, and there is no or insufficient appropriation to incur the expenditure within the department. I guess, Madam Chair, in the best of all worlds, it wouldn’t have come back as a special warrant, but, when I went to FMB in May, I went in with two parts to a submission. One part was for the operations of the legal aid office. The other part was for the cost of leasehold...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, there is other work being done, it's largely work to ensure that the passenger terminal building will last for 10 to 15 years, again to make sure that we meet that minimum 10-year lifespan that CATSA insists on to get their $4.6 million. If committee would like, I would suggest that perhaps Minister McLeod be asked for some information on the overall plan.

Thank you, Madam Chair. August 22nd was the date the Commissioner signed and dated the special warrant.