EDMONTON – The Wildrose Alliance party released its own energy competitiveness strategy today — days before the Stelmach government unveils its long-awaited study — that calls for reduced royalty rates and streamlining regulatory approvals.
The fledgling right-of-centre party is trying to get out in front of the government’s competitiveness strategy on conventional oil and gas, expected to be released later this week or next week.
Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith said the government’s new royalty framework, implemented in 2009, was "like pulling the rug out from underneath" the province’s most important indusrty, and led to "a financial trainwreck" for the sector.
Her party is urging the province to improve a regulatory approvals process she said sees some oil and gas projects in Saskatchewan approved in two months, compared to two years in Alberta.
The top level of the royalty rates for conventional oil and gas must come back down, she said. On natural gas, the top-level rates should once again be around 30 per cent, rather than the 50 per cent they were increased to under the new royalty framework.
"One of the things we want to see is a substantial reduction in the top rate," she told reporters at the legislature, flanked by her party’s three MLAs.
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
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