Income Trust Talk

If you’ve been following the updates in this relatively new web site and have read the Visitors Guide, you know that we don’t take a conventional approach to income trusts here in any sense of the word.

We certainly agree that income trusts and income trust investors have been screwed over by Finance Minister Jim “Flim Flam” Flaherty, and we’re sympathetic to those who have become activists over this issue. But, we’re also “profiteers”, and plan to continue to earn capital gains from these investment/trading vehicles for as long as we can.

We’ll continue to make you aware of developments on the “political” front, but we’ll mainly be keeping an eye on our Top 30 PTR chart… trading into the more promising candidates and out of those that slip to the bottom or off of the chart entirely. And, obviously, we’ll be doing further research before executing any buy or sell orders, as you should too.

A good place to start is the small inconspicuous quote box at the upper left on each page at the site. You might assume that it’ll only give you a current price for the trust units, but try it and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s a great way to begin your own additional research. That “quote box” leads you to a GlobeInvestor.com page with a huge amount of information… yes, quotes and charts, but also intra-day activity, recent news, annual financials, competitive analysis and earnings estimates (if available). And, if that’s not enough, there are links to much more. So, use it wisely along with your other preferred sources before pulling the trigger on your next buy or sell order.

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Now something for the activists. We’ve been gradually introducing organizations that are attempting to either overthrow the 2011 legislation, or to at least raise awareness of the issues; and we’ll eventually have a Links page here to consolidate them. But, for today’s purposes, let’s have a look at another one that hasn’t been mentioned so far.

The Coalition of Canadian Energy Trusts is exactly that (http://CanadianEnergyTrusts.ca ). Naturally, it’s more focussed than the other associations we’ve discussed, both by sector and geography (primarily Alberta). If you’re not convinced of their stand on preserving the income trust corporate structure for Energy pursuits by the summary statements provided, try sinking your teeth into their 250 page PDF document… Canadian Energy Trusts: An Integral Component of the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry .

The coalition’s “call for action” has it’s own web site (http://IExpectMore.ca ). Here’s the opening blurb from the home page there…

This isn’t what we expected

On October 31, 2006, the Conservative government broke a clear election promise by announcing a surprise tax on energy trusts, and the results have been disastrous. Millions of Canadians immediately suffered $35 billion in losses and many trusts are being eyed for takeover or have already been bought at wholesale prices by foreign investors. A weakened energy sector means all Albertans are affected.

By breaking their election promises by taxing energy trusts or more recently removing oil sands development incentives, the Conservative government is punishing millions of Albertans-the very people who supported them from the beginning. Sadly, many of these people are senior citizens who invested their hard-earned money into energy trusts.

From there you have links to getting your name on petitions and letters to members of parliament.