Government has entered into a purchase agreement to buy a building in Toronto, Canada, to house staff of the T&T Consulate. This was confirmed by Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon yesterday. The sale price for the 16,000-square-foot property, located at 185 Sheppard West, is Can$4.25 million, or TT$23 million. Gopee-Scoon also confirmed that Government was about to purchase a building in Washington, DC, to house diplomatic staff there. Asked if the price of that property was US$17 million, she said, "No; it was much less than that."
Gopee-Scoon said Prime Minister Patrick Manning is to formally open new consulate offices in New York later this month. She said a new building was bought recently for staff there. It was refurbished and already in use. And Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday was critical of the Government for spending such huge sums of money at a time when it could have been used to benefit more directly the citizens of this country. He said that should not be in the country's list of priorities when the average citizen was in deed of proper water supply, health care, drainage and other infrastructure.
