17. Equity compensation plans

Long‑term incentive plan (“LTIP”)

The following table summarizes the changes in outstanding LTIP notional shares during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017:


		Grant Date
		Weighted-Average
	Notional Shares	Fair Value per Notional Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2016	2,101,118	$	2.08
Granted	1,817,463		2.38
Vested and redeemed	(1,009,780)		2.22
Forfeitures	(24,227)		2.32
Outstanding at December 31, 2017	2,884,574		2.22
Granted	2,483,237		2.02
Vested and redeemed	(1,388,671)		2.22
Forfeitures	(26,939)		2.09
Outstanding at December 31, 2018	3,952,201		2.09
Granted	1,724,081		2.72
Vested and redeemed	(2,071,335)		2.10
Forfeitures	(26,855)		2.17
Outstanding at December 31, 2019	3,578,092	$	2.38

On March 29, 2019, the compensation committee of our board of directors determined that all notional shares granted under the LTIP held by non-officer employees will be settled in cash following vesting, rather than two-thirds in common shares and one-third in cash, with the cash portion being utilized to satisfy the tax withholding and remittance obligations related to the common share settlement. As a result of the modification, all future vesting of notional shares for this employee group will be settled in cash. The portion of LTIP grants settled in common shares was accounted for as equity awards. On the modification date, the equity awards were reclassified as liability awards and a liability equal to the modification-date fair value was recognized. The impact of the modification was not material on the date of the change in accounting.

The total grant date fair value of all outstanding notional shares under the LTIP was $8.5 million, $8.3 million and $6.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017. The weighted average remaining vesting term for outstanding notional shares was 1.7 years at December 31, 2019. Approximately $3.6 million of total unrecognized compensation expense is expected to be recognized over the term of the outstanding LTIP shares. Compensation expense related to LTIP was $4.9 million, $3.6 million and $3.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Cash payments made for vested notional shares were $2.1 million, $0.9 million and $0.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Transition Equity Participation Agreement

We also have 269,952 transition notional shares outstanding at December 31, 2019 under the Transition Equity Participation Agreement with James J. Moore, Jr. These notional shares will vest on or any time after January 22, 2017 if the weighted average Canadian dollar closing price of our common shares on the TSX for a period of at least three consecutive calendar months has exceeded the market price per common share determined as of January 22, 2015 (Cdn$3.18) by at least 50% (Cdn$4.77). These notional shares will also vest in the event that Mr. Moore is terminated without cause, resigns for good reason, or dies.