Trican Well Service says it has cut its employee costs by half through salary reductions, layoffs and job sharing in reaction to a severe slowdown in drilling activity due to low oil prices.

The TD Economics forecast projects a recession deeper than what Alberta experienced in 2015.

The words may not have been explicit, but oilpatch contractor Matthew Linnitt says he read between the lines: lie on official documents about an incident that could have killed him, or someone would be fired.

The company says the improvement in prices for western Canadian oil due to the Alberta government's curtailment program more than offset the impact of reduced production and increased operating costs.

Alberta's oilpatch is celebrating the election of a pro-business government, despite analyst observations that premier-designate Jason Kenney may not be able to do much about getting new oil export pipelines built.

Crude-by-rail shipments from Western Canada staged a minor recovery in March after falling in February to their lowest level in nine months, but oil storage levels remain stubbornly high.

MEG Energy says it has doubled its crude-by-rail shipments and will double them again to maximize prices in view of insufficient pipeline export capacity from Western Canada.

His comments echo complaints by major producers with refining assets which have all said the Alberta curtailment program is an unwanted intervention in the marketplace.

The Alberta government announced Wednesday it was increasing the oil production curtailment limit for February and March to 3.63 million barrels a day.

The head of the Bank of Canada says the negative impacts of low oil prices that have struck Western Canada will reverberate across the entire national economy.