Finance committee  Yes, tragically, I do. In my day job as an investor relations manager with PrimeWest Energy I've known a number of people who bought additional units in PrimeWest in October, previous to the announcement, specifically based on the fact that--and I quote--“the Conservative govern

Finance committee  Absolutely. Obviously there are bad financial advisers out there, and there are good ones. I'm not going to sit here and say that the investment community is lily-white on this either, but it is important to note that the government intervened and broke a promise here. We have p

Finance committee  I don't know about the indexes, but I do know in terms of market capital we're down somewhere between $17 billion and $22 billion to October 31, so the losses are still there, in terms of capital loss.

Finance committee  When you calculate that premium, it's important to note whether that premium is to the current market price or to the pre-October 31 price. I think in many cases you will find that, yes, there's a significant premium to the current market price because these trusts have been deva

Finance committee  There's nothing to prevent them from doing so, but there aren't Canadian buyers to the same degree. Keep in mind that the U.S. capital market is many multiples the size of the Canadian capital market. We don't have the depth here to be able to buy up all of these companies.

Finance committee  Right. That's also—

Finance committee  That's exactly it. It's very difficult to maintain your fiduciary duty to your unitholders when you have a very unstable fiscal regime, which is what we're facing right now.

Finance committee  Clearly the 31.5% tax is designed to eliminate the sector, whereas the alternatives we've heard would either allow for adaptation over ten years or would allow...and I'd never advocate for higher taxes, but that's the way it goes. Certainly the 10% would allow the sector to survi

Finance committee  Based on the reaction I've had, certainly in my day job, that's not going to offset the losses that people have incurred in their capital in terms of the income trusts.

Finance committee  Yes, I would suspect we would see some rebound in the capital markets, because it would allow for adaptation as opposed to destruction. Clearly, though, within that ten-year timeframe, we'd need clarity.

Finance committee  Absolutely incorrect.

Finance committee  There is a tax transfer that occurs. Taxation doesn't take place in the hands of the corporate entity; it takes place in the hands of the unitholders who receive the distributions. In most cases, they pay at a high marginal tax rate, perhaps as high as 46%. I would hardly say t

Finance committee  The governance model for the income trust is significantly different from that for corporations. You're comparing apples and oranges. The governance model in income trusts is such that, yes, the majority of the cashflow is paid out to the unitholders. If management wants to pur

Finance committee  They don't have the same direct accountability to their shareholders. The unit holders of a trust actually are in a very good position because governance is very strong, such that management must come back to the market when they want capital.

Finance committee  What's happening, and we're starting to see this emerging already in the capital markets, is that as valuations have been taken down 20% or 25%, the assets start looking pretty cheap. There's a lot of capital out there, particularly from the private equity side of the market—fore