when werethey increased last????? when did the oil industry crash last???? 1982? it was the same time!

It was last altered in 1997 to encourage investment in the oil sands.

The oil crash in the early 80's was a world wide crash.... due to the Iranian revolution. This crash in the price of oil also caused the Soviet Union to break up. I dont know where you got your info from but no alberta royalty changes are going to cause a worldwide oil price crash.

Back to my original post...All I said was I believed that the royalty's had to be adjusted somewhat. And I said this is just my opinion. If the price of oil goes up....and then the price at the pump goes up....doesnt it stand to reason then that the royalties should increase to some point?

Not a worldwide oil price crash, but the NEP by the Trudeau govt. in 1980 that killed the Alberta oilpatch. Calgary was destroyed, interest rates went over 20% and people were selling their houses for $1 and walking away from their mortgages.

Here is a little homework for you http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Policy ;)

I lived through it...I understand....but what Trudeau's government did and what I said ( that the royalty's should be adjusted somewhat) how is that the same thing?

OH and thanks for the homework...read it closely.

I don't think that it is the same thing, but it is looking to have a similar impact on life in Alberta.

I am not against all Albertan's getting their fair share (even the ones that have just moved here let alone people like me that have been in the province for 30 years) but I just don't think this was the right time to do this. If the Stelmach governemtn stopped and looked at what has been goignon in the oilpatch in 2007 it might have reconsidered their changes. Drilling has been on a decline, costs have been running overboard and finding good quality staff has been hard.

The Alberta oilpatch was heading into a downturn already, the new royalty regime just puts the icing on the cake and will make it difficult for the oilpatch to get out of the slump. A downturn that may have only lasted though 2008, not is not looking like it will recover until into 2010.

The problem is that too many people are only listening to what the popular media has to say and not doing their own research. Heck it was only until a couple weeks ago that the local news stopped reffering to Alberta as "booming" inside the industry we have seen the slowdown starting 18+ months ago.

I completely agree with that.....projects were already slowing down months before this and the timing for the royalty review was way off. I think they through it in there quickly before it was too late. But the only way we will get a recession the magnitude of the 80's is if the world market oil prices crash to stupid low amounts again.

My 2 cents.

10 years ago I had no extra $ and no home equity. Thanks to the Oil Industry En-cana, Shell all of them I am now worth something.Ya HOO. Well maybe not as I can't afford to buy anything in Alberta. Now the Alberta Govt. is trying to slow down our economy and forcing investment elsewhere and its working. It looks like I'll have to give "whosinpower" from Saskatoon a call and beg him to help me buy a chunk of dirt ****ing distance from a lake. I'll just sit on it for a few years till an En-cana exec from Alberta offers me a bazillion dollars for it and I can bring it back to Alberta and buy a really big tank with everything. Ya- HOO.
Ouch I just slipped on the fence yellin that ya-hoo
Kevin