Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to my Member’s statement I made reference to different land claim agreements and, more importantly, the investment those land claim organizations make by way of capital investment. They buy properties from the private sector with regard to retail properties. They’ve made a lot of investment in purchasing these facilities in Inuvik. They’ve gone out of their way to retrofit those buildings, bring them up to standard codes and whatnot. Yet it seems like the whole investments that were made could be a loss because of a government project. Nowhere has this government made an attempt to ensure that those investments that were made by the land claim organizations are going to be protected in any way. If anything, they’re at risk now because of a government initiative.
I’d like to ask the Premier: exactly where do we stand as a government to protect the private sector’s investments, especially those of land claim organizations that invest tens of millions of dollars to get into a certain sector and then find out that the government is competing against them in that particular sector?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, for the record, we have been living up to the commitments through the land claims. One of those examples is the MOUs we’ve signed with the Gwich’in in the past. We’re negotiating with the Sahtu, the Inuvialuit. But those are separate from land claims. That’s a process we’ve entered into to try and work with the corporations so that they can build up capacity in our communities in the North. We must recognize that.
Specifically in the community of Inuvik — and the Member has talked about the office space situation — 93 per cent of the space that is used by the Government of the Northwest Territories throughout a number of departments is leased space. We’re working with the private sector in those areas. In fact, some would say that when you look at the mix of the portfolio between owned and leased facilities, we have overextended ourselves on the lease side.
The move that’s been planned by the Department of Public Works, working with a number of departments, is to deal with one office space that is leased by another company; it’s called the Perry Building. That fell into some safety concerns there, and we had to move staff out and put them in a number of other places — not the most efficient use of our staff, the way they’ve been put in place.
The department had gone out and issued an RFP initially, and there were no responses back. After that, there were a number of responses, of proposals, after the fact. But because there’s interest from a number of groups, it was felt that a tender needed to go out on that space.
With regard to that response, I may even flip the same question with regard to the Yellowknife market. Ninety per cent of the market is private sector in Yellowknife, yet the federal government built a facility here in Yellowknife. They at least had the guts to go out and have an independent review to see exactly what the market disruption would have been over the long term here in Yellowknife in order to satisfy the private sector.
I’d like to ask the Premier: is this government willing to do a similar thing in regard to the Inuvik market and have an independent review to see exactly what the market disruption is over the next ten or 20 years in regard to these facilities that the private sector has invested in?
There’s been a lot of work done in this area already. One, looking at the fact that we’ve had to move people out of an existing space, we’ve got to make up that shortfall. The department has notified all those who have leased space with the Government of the Northwest Territories in their community that we are not shortening our leases and we’re not removing people out of that leased space.
We’re going to accommodate that, out of a number of our own older buildings that we have, as well as those staff who were moved out of an existing space that fell into some safety concerns.
The confirmation letters have been sent. There will be no disruption in our existing portfolios when it comes to leased assets.
The government requires 25,000 square feet of space. They’re going to build a facility for 47,000 square feet of space. That’s double what the government’s needs are. That is going to double the requirements and needs in the Inuvik region. If you’re talking about office space needs versus the size of a facility that’s going to be built, it’s twice the size of what’s required by the government today. If you can’t tell me that the other half of that space is going to be filled by somebody else.… Those people have to come from somewhere.
As a government we realize that the Inuvik economy is not really that secure without a pipeline. These people made a lot of investments in that area to hopefully take advantage of the market in that area. But as a government competing against that market, it’s not really fair to the private sector. Why should they invest in this market if this is the way the Government of the Northwest Territories is going to treat them?
I’d like to ask the Premier again: why is this government not doing a market disruption review by an independent body?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. I’d like to remind Members that the issue we’re talking about is before Committee of the Whole right now in the Capital Estimates. That’s the proper place to be debating this. However, I’ll allow the Premier to respond. Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through that process information was provided to Members on the leased space that’s out there in the community. Again, 93 per cent of the office space in Inuvik is leased with a number of companies in the North or in the community as well. As I stated earlier, the department has notified those companies that we are not moving people out of that space. We’re replacing existing space that was used and some of our older facilities that are owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just spoke to the gentleman responsible for reviewing, and right now they’re doing a review in regard to the requirements in Inuvik region. They’re telling me that there’s no need for that large an office building in Inuvik, which will definitely have an effect on the market. If the private sector is already in Inuvik doing this review, how can the Premier tell me they’ve been talking to the sector that they are concerned about in regard to what effect this is going to have on them?
Again, I’d like to ask the Premier: could you put a hold on this project until a thorough review is done to ensure that all avenues have been taken so there will be no market disruption in that particular area in regard to Inuvik properties?
This project has been delayed since the events that happened with the Perry Building facility. There are limited amounts of space in the community, whether it’s one office or two offices, but not enough to properly run the departments, as we have been through — for example, the situation with the Perry Building. As well, we have a number of older assets in the community that are being used right now, and we’re either going to have to invest in fixing up the older properties we own or go into a newer facility to replace the space we lost with the closure of two floors in the Perry Building.
Again, the department has notified those who are leasing space from the Government of the Northwest Territories right now that they will not lose that space.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
