Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On this topic I would like to know more detail about what caused this increase in the premium first. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Am I correct in thinking that currently the GNWT is budgeting $9.5 million as the potential liability, the settlement of this litigation, and that the department was able to find $7.253 million but it was deemed that it was short $2.247 million? So in order to top that $9.5 million we have to now appropriate this $2.247 million extra. I just want to know if I understand that correctly. Where does that $7.253 existing funds come from? Is that money that we have already allocated over the years? Thank you.

So is this another case of one of those not real money things? You’re keeping it on the books. Is it a $3 million liability we are putting down, or $2.769 million we are putting in the books, or maybe it’s $3.231 million? I don’t know. Keeping it on the books there is a liability, or is that money we have paid out?

Thank you on that. There is $231,000 for the loan guarantees associated with the default on the loan guarantee agreement with Sirius. Could I just get the Minister to state again why the government had to incur this $231,000 in expenditures?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are not able to find page 5, some people on this side. Is that the page that says budget and evaluation, is that page 5?

Yes, Mr. Chairman, we do have a comment to offer from the committee on Bill 7.

Mr. Chairman, Bill 7 amends the Legal Profession Act to enable law firms to enable trust monies that lie unclaimed in lawyers’ trust accounts. This bill was developed…Sorry, I am reading the Minister’s statement.

---Laughter

I was supposed to read the pink sheet; sorry.

Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted its public review of Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Legal Profession Act, on October 12, 2004. The committee would like to thank the NWT Law Society for its presentation, and the Minister and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise on a Point of Order. I don’t know exactly what section there, but I believe that we have a rule in the House that says a Member cannot suggest that another Member is providing any information that is misleading, and, Mr. Speaker, I just want to state that we have the right to ask the questions that we all feel strongly about, on the basis of the information we have.

I do not appreciate any suggestion by any Member in this House that somehow we are failing in our duty to give good information. So I respect the Member's right to pose his own question, but I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister still did not give any information about what criteria the staff has to meet in order to call somebody and say I’m looking for space in Yellowknife and I’m ready to do sole source. Because, Mr. Speaker, as the Minister indicated, of the three businesses that applied, none of them met the criteria. So it was a zero. Nobody met the criteria. So as far as I’m concerned, all the businesses in Yellowknife were entitled to have this negotiation with the Minister’s department. So why wasn’t the Panda Mall consulted? Why wasn’t the old Overlander’s space consulted...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are also to the Minister of Public Works and Services. Mr. Speaker, I must say that every aspect of this contract for the new Legal Aid office is very questionable. Mr. Speaker, I know a little bit about legal aid files; I used to work on legal aid files. There are so many people who don’t get legal aid assistance, and when they do they are doled out two or three hours of legal aid service from a lawyer. Now we’re going to house this program in this most expensive area and I can’t wait for them to tell them, you know, we can spend all the money...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today to the contract DPW has entered into to set up the second Legal Aid office at the Centre Square Mall. Mr. Speaker, going by Minister Roland's answers to Mr. Ramsay's questions last Friday, it appears that Minister Roland is completely content with the situation that the proprietor who did not even meet the deadline was rewarded with a sole-source or, at best, negotiated contract, for what amounts to a maximum of a 15-year lease, in one of the most expensive retail spaces in the city, to open a second Legal Aid office.

Mr...