No, not with the leases. They get the taxes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Deh Cho. Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to begin with the equity leases. Can the Minister of Lands tell me how many equity leases there are outstanding and the total amount owed on them?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.

Thank you. It's 218 equity leases right now. As for the total amount owing, we will have to get that information, because that's pretty detailed. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate having that figure, because I see we're spending millions of dollars every year in equity lease administration, and I'm questioning whether there is actually even that much money owing under the equity leases. Will the Minister commit that, by the end of this Assembly, we will have dealt with the remaining equity leases?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.

Thank you. I would love to say yes, but some of the leases actually extend beyond this Assembly. What we're trying to do is work with the clients and trying to be as proactive as we can to get this equity lease issue dealt with. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess this goes back to that issue. I question if there is outstanding money on people's equity leases, and they're not making payments, and we agree that we will eventually give them the land in fee simple. Why are we spending millions of dollars administering this when we could simply just hand over the land? Is the Department of Lands willing to look into cases where there may be outstanding fees? Is the Department of Lands willing to conduct an analysis of whether we're actually spending more money administering equity leases than we are actually owed at the end of the day?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First and foremost, when we're looking at equity leases, it's about compliance, making sure the property is there. Also, in regard to the money, if we do waive their fees, we're going to have other people asking for their fees to be waived. What we're trying to do is work with the clients, the leaseholders, to do what's right, moving forward. The biggest challenge right now, from what we're seeing, is the compliance issue. We need to be compliant with the lease agreement so that we can turn it over. We would love for people to be able to turn over the land based on the work that we're trying to do. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps I don't understand. Ultimately, if we're going to hand over the land in fee simple, which will have inherently different conditions, it's a different basket of rights than an equity lease. Why does the person have to be compliant before we just give them the land in fee simple?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.

I'm going to start, and then I'm going to turn to my assistant deputy minister. First and foremost, each equity lease has some different flavour to it, so that needs to be addressed. Again, it could be that we turn it over for $1, or we sell it for a value, what the appraised value is. As for compliance, if we turn over a piece of property that's not compliant and we have problems in the future, the GNWT is liable. I understand why the Member is looking at it, but we want to make sure we do it right, and that's the most important part of it, making sure that people are compliant, and working with them moving forward. At this point in time, with your permission, I'd ask the assistant deputy minister to add to it.

Thank you, Minister of Lands. Mr. Baetz.

Thank you, Mr. Baetz. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If we transfer the land in fee simple, and then it's not complying with a community bylaw, those bylaws still apply, and it's the responsibility of the community to deal with that. This issue of, you know, "If it's there's not financial compliance," but we're actually spending millions of dollars a year trying to get people in compliance, many of whom are Indigenous rights holders. There is a lot of complexity here that I believe the Department of Lands needs to take a better look at.

I would like to move on, though. In my riding of Yellowknife North, we have already started converting a number of leases to fee simples, beginning with Cassidy Point. Is the Minister of Lands willing to continue converting the leases up the Ingraham Trail to fee simple?

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister of Lands.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We're talking recreational leases and that. That's something different than equity leases. Equity leases have been agreements made by the government and the constituent or the client to turn that over. The Member is asking us to look outside the boundary, to look at his riding that he represents and other ridings that have this issue. Right now, we're not able to do that. Right now, we have to focus on trying to get the tasks that we need to get done. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.