The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture

Speaker, our government is bringing in a series of sweeping, positive changes to the administration of Crown lands that will quicken regular applications while supporting long-term possession of the land your home is built on – even when that possession doesn’t meet the previous legal tests that blocked this.

For the last five decades, ever since 1976 when government decided to abolish, to terminate, Adverse Possession of Crown lands, government after government has endorsed the 1976 decision and made it their own.

Speaker, we are not every other government.

The Primary Residence Property Title Program is a game changer. Any qualifying applicant who built, bought or inherited a house and land and is now living full-time in that home will be issued a quitclaim deed, forever eliminating the Crown’s right to that property. The applicant will show that they paid taxes to their municipality and establish reasonable proof of primary residence as of October 15, 2024 – and it is theirs.

Once approved, if the applicant is a senior in receipt of the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), they pay nothing for this deed except standard processing fees.

No applicant will pay full market value and, to support housing security, the deed will be based on a percentage of income starting at just five per cent of the normal price.

For 50 years, this legislature said don’t do this – take the land away and take these families to court with no other recourse.

Speaker, we are not listening to that advice.