The IJF has identified nearly 600 Alberta companies responsible for millions of dollars of municipal tax arrears and unpaid leases to landowners.
Unpaid oil and gas property taxes have created an increasingly large burden for local governments in Alberta. Rural municipalities reported companies owed $81 million in cumulative tax arrears in 2018. As of the end of 2024, the property tax debt had grown to nearly $254 million, despite policies being introduced to stop insolvent or struggling companies from acquiring new oil and gas wells.
Taxpayers are also on the hook for unpaid leases to landowners, since property owners can apply to the province to reimburse them for outstanding bills.
A March 2023 ministerial order from Alberta’s energy minister established rules authorizing Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to block the transfer of new well licences to companies that owe more than $20,000 in unpaid municipal taxes, unless certain conditions are met. There were 130 companies exceeding that threshold in 2024, according to documents released through an access to information request.
Twenty-one of these companies that owed more than the government’s threshold were given new well licences, the IJF has found, raising questions about how the energy regulator’s rules are enforced.
Quote:
In 2021, Northern Sunrise County was the only municipality that reported tax arrears from Blue Sky Resources, which owed $28,215. When Municipal Affairs repeated its survey for 2024, the company’s unpaid tax bills in 15 municipalities had grown to nearly $3 million. Between May and December 2023, the AER approved the transfer of 407 well licenses to Blue Sky Resources.
Quote:
“It's a mistake by the AER’s overall approach, where they think it is better for any solvent company, any company that is not officially bankrupt, to have the wells than for a company that is officially bankrupt to have the well. And so even if the company is doing very badly — it's not paying landowners, it's not paying municipal taxes, it's not able to pay for the closure of its assets — they will still approve any transfer from a bankrupt company to that officially still-operating company,” Yewchuk said.
So what happened to Blue Sky Resources after they were given all this runway from the regulator regulating?
Quote:
October 2025: Blue Sky Resources files bankruptcy and insolvency notice. Total liabilities listed at $63.7 million.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Fuzz For This Useful Post:
Definitely not anything that improved day-to-day life.
I think the one policy that they put forward (under Kenney) that was good was the one to entice movies and filming to come to Alberta. But it hasn't done anything to materially make life better and its not like it created permanent jobs at any great scale.
All it really did was create tax credits to try and lick the boots of another industry of mega rich corporations to do occasional work here. It would have been better if the incentive had been attached to creating permanent jobs and satellite studios here that maybe could occupy some of our empty office space.
I think one of the first orders of business when the Kenney UCP hit office was to cancel the film tax credit, they then after much outcry (and loss of things being fimed here) brought in a new one
Danielle Smith wrote to Mark Carney demanding her say in the appointment of federal judges...
And also threatening that if she doesn't get a say, she will withhold funding for new judicial appointments.
Danielle Smith wrote to Mark Carney demanding her say in the appointment of federal judges...
And also threatening that if she doesn't get a say, she will withhold funding for new judicial appointments.
You know, even as a guy living in Alberta, as a Canadian I wonder if the rest of Canada would consider having a referendum to kick the UCP out of Confederation?
__________________
"If Javex is your muse…then dive in buddy"
Danielle Smith wrote to Mark Carney demanding her say in the appointment of federal judges...
And also threatening that if she doesn't get a say, she will withhold funding for new judicial appointments.
If I were Carney I wouldn’t even respond to that. Just ignore it and let it disappear into the ether. Dani and the UCP can get f***ed.
You know, even as a guy living in Alberta, as a Canadian I wonder if the rest of Canada would consider having a referendum to kick the UCP out of Confederation?
The thing that is bugging me is that I can't imagine that they have done all of these things and not broken any laws. We shouldn't need to kick them out of anything... we just need some form of law enforcement to enforce some laws.
Being an elected official is not a get out of jail free card.
Are there any pro separatism folks here that can articulate what all this hoopla about Federal mistreatment is? I really must be missing something and Rath, the treasonous lardo leader certainly didn't inform anyone with his last rant - as a province, we wanted a pipeline (which we received plus potentially another) and wanted the carbon tax repealed (which we received). The Feds even agreed to adjust the health transfer program recently to provide better health care funding.
The only issue I can see that is even remotely a problem for the separatist crowd would be the gun laws and equalization scheme as currently organized. How on earth is this worthy of potentially destroying the country over?
Surely there has to be more than just but hurt rednecks with an axe to grind? I've yet to hear anything more than this with the exception of the odd "they took er jobs" (their own UCP has welcomed hundreds of thousands to the province to take many of these jobs, not the feds) and really would like to know why we have to put up with the nonsense any longer so a bunch of idiots can kick up dust and hurt the province in the long run as they scare off investment and tarnish the reputation of us all further.
__________________
I hate to tell you this, but I’ve just launched an air biscuit
Last edited by Hot_Flatus; 02-04-2026 at 09:06 AM.
Danielle Smith wrote to Mark Carney demanding her say in the appointment of federal judges...
And also threatening that if she doesn't get a say, she will withhold funding for new judicial appointments.
Way to keep the temperature down Dani
The Following User Says Thank You to edslunch For This Useful Post:
Are there any pro separatism folks here that can articulate what all this hoopla about Federal mistreatment is? I really must be missing something and Rath, the treasonous lardo leader certainly didn't inform anyone with his last rant - as a province, we wanted a pipeline (which we received plus potentially another) and wanted the carbon tax repealed (which we received). The Feds even agreed to adjust the health transfer program recently to provide better health care funding.
The only issue I can see that is even remotely a problem for the separatist crowd would be the gun laws and equalization scheme as currently organized. How on earth is this worthy of potentially destroying the country over?
Surely there has to be more than just but hurt rednecks with an axe to grind? I've yet to hear anything more than this with the exception of the odd "they took er jobs" (their own UCP has welcomed hundreds of thousands to the province to take many of these jobs, not the feds) and really would like to know why we have to put up with the nonsense any longer so a bunch of idiots can kick up dust and hurt the province in the long run as they scare off investment and tarnish the reputation of us all further.
Even the equalization payment thing is a mystery. Sure we pay more into the pot because our province has more money generally due to the OG industry.
That's just life living in any country.
Not to mention, Alberta benefitted from those payments in the 60's which helped finance the oil industry.
So they are complaining now that we pay more but we didn't hear a peep out of anyone when we were receiving.
Are there any pro separatism folks here that can articulate what all this hoopla about Federal mistreatment is? I really must be missing something and Rath, the treasonous lardo leader certainly didn't inform anyone with his last rant - as a province, we wanted a pipeline (which we received plus potentially another) and wanted the carbon tax repealed (which we received). The Feds even agreed to adjust the health transfer program recently to provide better health care funding.
The only issue I can see that is even remotely a problem for the separatist crowd would be the gun laws and equalization scheme as currently organized. How on earth is this worthy of potentially destroying the country over?
Surely there has to be more than just but hurt rednecks with an axe to grind? I've yet to hear anything more than this with the exception of the odd "they took er jobs" (their own UCP has welcomed hundreds of thousands to the province to take many of these jobs, not the feds) and really would like to know why we have to put up with the nonsense any longer so a bunch of idiots can kick up dust and hurt the province in the long run as they scare off investment and tarnish the reputation of us all further.
Yeah man...I dont even know. Ultimately I think the separation concept is remarkably short-sighted and inherently flawed.
I wish I could say something along the lines of it being some sort of 5D Chess Political strategy to wrangle some concessions out of Ottawa but even that theory would make a little too much sense for the Pro-Separation crowd.
So...I dont believe that anymore. I think some people genuinely want Alberta to separate and I just cant circle that square in my mind.
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
Yeah man...I dont even know. Ultimately I think the separation concept is remarkably short-sighted and inherently flawed.
I wish I could say something along the lines of it being some sort of 5D Chess Political strategy to wrangle some concessions out of Ottawa but even that theory would make a little too much sense for the Pro-Separation crowd.
So...I dont believe that anymore. I think some people genuinely want Alberta to separate and I just cant circle that square in my mind.
The only "chess" being played here is the layers of grifts built into this thing. The Breakdown gets into a great example of this grifting in their Jan 18 video. You can jump to the ~34 minute mark to get right into it.
Basically, there is a s-bag lawyer who has set up a grift shop to sell pro-separation swag. These grifts have grifts. 4D grift chess for a few people to make money off of the drooling masses that are buying into this nonsense.
So now Wilson is set up as the hidden leader of Rise of Alberta so he can sell swag and get paid to speak at events.
Pretty funny how this freedumb separatist pumps his own tires with his "King's Council" title.
__________________
The Following User Says Thank You to Wolven For This Useful Post:
