Thanks, Mr. Chair. I agree with this recommendation. I am disappointed that the department and the Minister did not actually conduct a comprehensive evaluation of this significant discovery licence issues and problems. There were some options set out in discussion materials that were part of this development of these bills. I don't believe that there was a systematic, inclusive evaluation of the options. Those options include things like even doing away completely with significant discovery licences so that a company would jump from an exploration licence straight to a production licence.
What this has done, and this is an artefact of the way that the federal government set up their legislation, is three significant parts of the Northwest Territories have been tied up forever in terms of oil and gas rights. Even our own Minister issued 10 of these in the post-devolution world that amount to an area of about 39 percent of the area of Prince Edward Island. Our Minister issued those significant discovery licences. It is my view that he actually had a choice about what to do.
The other options include rental rates, as I said, getting rid of SDLs completely. Unfortunately, I don't believe these received adequate consideration in the development of this bill. The purpose of this recommendation is to try to ensure that this issue is addressed in the 19th Assembly and that we try to find ways to deal with the large amounts of land that have been tied up forever. Thanks, Mr. Chair.