Was Sam Spranglet A Panel Member Hostile to Industry?

I heard something about Royalty Review Panel member Sam Spanglet.

From his biography

In the spring of 2003, Sam moved to the Shell head office as vice-president Operations Oil Sands and president, Albian Sands Energy Inc. There, he oversaw oilsands operations, including the Scotford Complex and Albian Sands. He retired from Shell Canada on May 1, 2006.

What I heard was that Sam's "retirement" is a kind way of describing an acrimonious departure. I heard further that as a result of this he harbours resentments towards the petroleum industry in general and Shell in particular.

This is interesting if it is in fact true. It would be further evidence that the panel was "loaded" and selected on a biased basis to come up with an answer that was hostile to industry.

I certainly hope none of the stories I've heard are true, and that Sam is in fact an excellent fellow who is only thinking of all Albertan's best interests. But unfortunately the stakes in this Royalty Review are huge, the process has not been transparent, so we must start asking some uncomfortable questions.

Shouldn't there have been some type of public process to select and vet the composition of the Royalty Review Panel?

I will keep my ears to the ground on this matter.

I wonder where the mainstream Alberta media is in investigating and getting to the bottom of this whole royalty review fiasco. In the few minutes I can find to research it damned if I can't find some interesting (damning?) tidbits with only a few seconds of googling.