What Was Said To Panel in Med Hat

The record of the public consultation process is available.

The first session was in Medicine Hat and ran from June 18 to 20, 2007.

Speaking in favour of NOT CHANGING ROYALTIES were:

Petro-Canada, The Economic Development Alliance of SE Alberta, Quicksilver Resources, Nexen, Champion Drilling, NACE International, Encana, The Petroleum Services Association of Canada, Conoco Phillips, ARC Resources, Penn West Royalty Trust, Cepro Energy Services, Baytex Energy Trust, Horizon Construction Management, and Wheatland Country.

Of note is an organization which is not an oil company, Wheatland County; which said:

"We are not advocating for increased taxes from the oil and gas sector. Rather, we are promoting a more fair distribution of the provincial royalties and other fees, including mineral taxes paid. This would be achieved by the Provincial Government providing a portion of these revenues directly to the affeted municipalities to offset the costs of the infrastructure that enables this industry."

One organization spoke which appeared to offer no opinion of change; the Canadian Nuclear Society. It did however state that if changes were undertaken to "phase in changes slowly".

Two private citizens spoke of which there is no record I can access to see what they said.

One private citizen, Edith Zawadiuk spoke who wanted royalties increased.

So what's the score?

15 organizations representing thousands of people said "no change"

1 organization said "if change phase in slowly"

2 people it is not sure what was said

1 person said to change.

So essentially we have thousands of people on the side for no change and Edith on the other. I'm sure Edith is a nice lady, and is pretty sharp too. I don't mean to be critical of her personally. Should her views should over-ride the views of thousands of others with more background on the topic who presented the other point of view?

Was the public consultation process respected? Did the feedback the panel recieved get reflected in their final report?

Of course not. The game was rigged from the start.

There was no real public consultation process, just the illusion of one.

The panel was about maximizing what it could get, according to its primary consultant Petro van Meurs.