I can't believe that Alberta is going to go ahead and apply the royalties in January 2009. I certainly made an error in judgement in saying that the Government in power would adjust their thinking on this matter.

In my opinion, this is costing Alberta billions of dollars per year because the investment climate in Alberta is causing major oil companies to cancel their projects, etc. Or, at least delay them and many companies are going to Saskatchewan and B.C. to carry on their business there.

There was approximately 127 billion dollars in expenditure planned over the next five years. So far, in excess of $47 billion has been cancelled. That's over $9 billion a year. Now for every billion that would have been spent in projects, there would have been a considerable amount of additional spin-off expenditure in those businesses that would supply products, etc., so the yearly loss to this province is considerably more than $9 billion a year.

After talking to a family whose husband and wife both work in the oil and gas industry, it is very sad that they will both be out of work by the end of January of this year and are planning to move to a neighbouring province.

Best Wishes,

Lynn