Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The amendments we are proposing to the Public Trustee Act would allow for the making of regulations establishing fees for the services provided to the public by the public trustee. Under the current legislation, any fees to be charged by the public trustee must be approved by a judge of the Supreme Court. This is a time-consuming and inconvenient process since many of the matters handled by the public trustee do not otherwise have to be dealt with by the Supreme Court. The amendment would also the public trustee or designate to waive or reduce fees in cases of hardship or unfairness.
Since the public trustee already charges fees for most of the services provided, there would only be a slight increase in revenue to the government. Those are the opening comments I had, Mr. Chairman.