Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's no coherent reporting of how much we spend on leasing and how much that and who it goes to. You can go into the contracts, but the problem is we inherited quite a few of these leases from the federal government upon devolution, and some of these leases are 20 years old and they just seem to be renewed every time they come up. So I'm hoping the Minister can provide me some updated figures on how much we paid Northview since this Assembly started. I suspect it's a number that just continually climbs every year, but I can't actually confirm that with public information, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're not able to divulge proprietary information specific to a single landlord. Infrastructure continues to follow leasing of approved real estate policy which includes obtaining leases through the public procurement unless directed by the Executive Council, which is made up of the Premier and the Ministers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure that is proprietary information. I can go to the contracts reports and filter out who wins leases and who we're paying money to. It's not all there because I said many of these leases are well over 20 years old. And I think that lines up with what the Minister said, that our current leases of approved real property policy is well over 20 years old. I'm not remotely convinced that we are in compliance with it. It does require us to be doing continuous value for money analysis, and it does require us to continue to analyze whether it is cheaper to own buildings versus leasing them. But all that being said, it's a 20yearold policy that has not been updated. Is the Minister willing to update our current leasing of approved real property policy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm sure the Member is aware that the GNWT is currently going through a procurement review. Once the procurement review has concluded, the Department of Infrastructure has committed to work with the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, and other stakeholder departments, to bring forward proposed amendments to the leasing of real property policy. It's important that any amendments to this policy are aligned with the outcomes of this procurement review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that, and maybe I'll have some questions about when we can finally wrap up this procurement review.
My next question is, you know, we're talking about multiple office towers here. I recognize we're not going to empty a 10storey commercial office building overnight. I think it's going to take probably a decade or two of concerted of effort to actually adjust this percentage that grows every single year to one company. But I think a first step would be reviewing when we put leases out whether they could be in smaller chunks, whether we could work with departments that, you know, perhaps they don't all need to be on eight floors of one building and we could break that up into some smaller more feasible things to get local ownership, especially here in Yellowknife where it is such a monopoly. I'm wondering if the Minister will apply that lens to when we go out on further leases. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, reviewing space needs in that way is an approach we use regularly when developing RFPs. It is a consideration when we are approached by departments to obtain/renew space for a program. How much of this space needs to be grouped together and what can be split into smaller spaces, recognizing that this may create opportunities for smaller local landlords. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Minister that the department is already doing that, but I think it needs a little bit of a review because, clearly, it's not working if the end goal is local ownership. It's clear, if you look at the city of Yellowknife skyline, we don't have local ownership. Almost every single building is owned by some multi-billion-dollar REIT. So my question is, you know, I think actually a number of companies, perhaps Indigenous development corps, if you gave them enough notice three, five years out that you were looking to renew a very large lease and you were perhaps willing to make it a little longer term, they would actually build us a building, Mr. Speaker. I think a lot of different groups have been looking at this as a possibility, including some of our housing leases. So I'm just wondering if the Minister is willing to look and work with some local potential development corporations or landlords, give them some notice, and see if we can enter into a negotiated contract if someone will actually build us some leasing space. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member spoke about an approach that we can do to involve local owners. It is an approach that we use sometimes but mostly through a public procurement process.
So in the terms of the RFP, it would allow sufficient time to schedule, to allow landlords to propose new building and longterm lease. This approach was used in several places, Mr. Speaker, including Hay River at the Hay River health and social service accommodation office building. It was used at the new Fort McPherson office building. And procurement is currently underway for the territorial fire centre in Fort Smith. All of these leases, Mr. Speaker, allow for local landlords to build new buildings and lease it back to the GNWT. So we're getting there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
