Agreed. Thank you, committee. Next we have operations expenditure summary, $10,758,000, from page 320 to 321. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Minister has spoken about the funding to address the long-standing issue of equity leases. I believe this is the appropriate section. Where can I see that funding in the main estimates? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That comes under Commissioner's land administration, the amount set aside for that.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see that is a substantial increase, from $1,764,000 to $2,388,000. I am just wondering if he can elaborate on how money is going to solve this problem? My understanding is that the current leases are administered by the staff, so what are these additional staff positions doing? Why is more staff time going to resolve equity leases? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This issue of equity leases has been a long-standing problem. There are approximately 245 equity leases throughout the Northwest Territories. Only about a quarter, or 64, are in the settled regions, and 181 are within the unsettled areas. When I first heard about this issue, I think it might have been prior to my being elected; I might have heard it from clients; certainly, I heard from Members of my profession after I was elected, I had assumed that this would be fairly simple to straighten out, thinking that all of these leases would be at least similar. They are not, unfortunately. The ones within the settled regions are fairly straightforward, many of them, but within the unsettled regions, there are other issues involving possible Aboriginal claims or Aboriginal issues, and that is why additional staff is needed. Also, too, it is not merely in every case a question of simply transferring the title. There may be other issues that arise, such as having to resurvey the land or moving some buildings off the land if they are on two pieces of land, so those sorts of issues have to be resolved. We wanted to resolve this on a timely basis, and, as I say, it turned out to be more complicated than I had anticipated. Whenever I looked at a lease, I thought, "Oh, this one's different than the last one I'd seen." So the public very much wants to resolve this and have a certainty, by the public, I mean those who hold leases, so that they can have a path towards fee simple ownership. We thought it was of such importance that it was necessary to hire additional staff because there's going to be an awful lot of work involved in resolving this issue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Minister resolves an issue for one of his problem areas by offering fee simple, I'm talking about the Cassidy Point deal that was honoured. So why aren't we just doing something similar? That seems simple enough for those residents, those lease holders. Why don't we offer that deal to everyone who's struggling with this issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.

Cassidy Point. Well, hard cases, in a way, make bad law, if I could put it that way. What happened there was that there was an undertaking by a senior member of the staff of the government some years ago that people would get fee simple in that area, at Cassidy Point, and the government felt obligated to come through with that promise, as I think is appropriate; but that promise was not made generally. So, we're going to have to take these more complicated steps to resolve these other 245 equity leases.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in doing so, I believe the Minister, and I disagree with his position on this, but he calls it the "honour of the Crown." If the Minister has established a precedent by signing off on that deal and honouring that promise, and that precedent is in the mind of many members of the public who are concerned about these leases, so, again, I want to ask the Minister why we cannot offer the same deal to other lease holders who are expecting the same treatment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.

Mr. Chair, the promise, as I understand it, was made specifically to those holders of property at Cassidy Point; it wasn't made to the general public. I also understand that, after that promise was made, if I have the dates right, the land-lease-only policy came into effect for those properties in unsettled areas. So I don't see it as a precedent. I did refer to the honour of the Crown, and I realize that's a term of art that often refers to government relations with Aboriginal groups; but it also, in my view, applies to our situation. A promise was made. People doubtless relied upon it at Cassidy Point, and therefore we fulfilled that promise. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, if I understand the Minister correctly, if he could confirm this for me, the reason we can't offer that deal to leases on unsettled land is because of a lease-only policy that was put into place. So the policy is preventing this government from offering a similar deal to those lease holders; is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.

Yes, in essence, that is true. However, I mentioned the honour of the Crown. One of the things we have to do in the unsettled areas is, of course, consult with the affected Aboriginal groups. So there are really two things coming into play there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Sebert. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the lease-only policy, is that a policy that this government can change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Sebert.