(a) The Halifax Port Corporation did enter into a lease agreement with Scotia Terminals Limited for facilities at Pier 9A. The lease commenced December 1, 1998. A tender call for the lease was not issued. In fact, it would be highly unusual for the Halifax Port Corporation to call for tenders to lease facilities. Neither HPC's enabling legislation nor its internal policies require it to call for tenders for leases.
(b) No.
(c) In 1996, the dock, which was constructed over 50 years ago, was declared unsafe and taken out of service. The proposal to lease facilities put forward by Scotia Terminals Limited provided the necessary support for the decision to carry out the $5.3 million repair expenditure. The repairs were at the cost of HPC.
(d) In the past five years there have been two other leases of a multimillion dollar port facility. One was to PanCanadian Petroleum Limited at Shed 9B and the other was to Colbalt Refinery Limited at Shed 22. The latter area was subsequently leased to Scotia Terminals Limited. The lease terminated on November 30, 1998 when the operation moved to the Pier 9A facility.
(e) The Halifax Port Corporation deems the amount of revenue to be generated by the lease as commercially sensitive and privileged information.
(f) The officers and directors of Scotia Terminals Limited are:
President: Bernard Prévost Secretary/Treasurer: Harry Mathers Comptroller: Cheryl Newcombe
Directors: Harry Mathers Bernard Prévost
Question No. 177—