Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will continue having questions for the Minister of Infrastructure following up to my last set.
So given that the whole point of leasing the Legacy Hospital Building to Ventura was to transfer risk to Ventura, has the government been able to recover any of the costs related to the plumbing problems that were encountered just as the building was supposed to open last year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have that specific information. I'd be happy to get that for the Member and provide it to the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that we are locked in to paying $78 million over 30 years to Ventura, can the Minister explain whether there is any benefit or value that Ventura is providing to the government over the next 30 years by holding the lease; what are we getting from that arrangement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the most significant things that we get from that, having entered into the revenue, again, sharing agreement with them, it did bring down the overall cost to us of having access to a building that has been fully renovated for use. And when I say renovated, I also want to say remediated. Again, the costs of remediating a building of this size and scale are not insignificant. That would have been a significant cost to the GNWT to do that, to bring it up to a level that would then be actually useable again from the state that it was in. So we are -- that was -- that is the single biggest asset -- or benefit that we are getting. And now as the sort of landlord, if you will, they do have an obligation to maintain the building to a standard. So that's another specialized service that they are providing as a major land -- a major rent -- landlord holder, that they brought it up to scale and are now having to support us, otherwise we'd have to bring on likely more public servants and more specialized care in order to maintain the building ourselves. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it's my understanding that -- well, that -- I mean, the remediation work is done and the GNWT, in fact, had to pay for all of the renovations to get the building ready so I'm not sure what they're continuing to offer. But is the department investigating the potential and the possible risks and benefits of breaking that 30-year lease agreement with Ventura for the Legacy Hospital Building? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I do think that's an important point for folks to understand that there was the remediation of the space, first of all, and there's an industry term for it that's escaping me, but essentially to have it into a shell position so that it could actually be then renovated. So that's where there's two parts to what's going on. And the -- the vanilla shell, I think is the term. To have it at a vanilla shell so that it could be turned into a useful space. Again, that's not an insignificant cost and that has now been parsed out over the course of the lease which, again, spreads that cost out over time rather than requiring a significant upfront amount.
And as for the second question within the third question, Mr. Speaker, it's not my understanding and not my recollection that we are doing any kind of investigation of breaking that lease. That's not generally the kind of contractual party that we want to be seen as a government and so, again, it's certainly not my understanding that there's any intent to do that this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
