Posted a reply to Faz's Toronto thread but felt this subject deserves a topic of its own. Alberta has known oil sand reserves second only to Saudi and potentially 8 times as big. There's already a boom in house prices there but as demand increases for its oil supply and Western governments seek supplies from safe governments rather than rely on the Middle East and Russia it's bound to increase substantially. There are some very interesting articles out there if interested. For example: http: / /www .cbsnews .com /stories /2006 /01 /20 /60minutes /main1225184 .shtml http: / /www .energy .gov .ab .ca /89 .asp Apparently property prices in Alberta have already shot up (there was a very interesting article in a recent edition of Property Investor News) but the population is likely to increase substantially, they will be wealthy and they will need somewhere to live. And lastly, as if this wasn't enough, Alberta has a very attractive tax environment! I wonder if PS have any views on this as some of the fundamentals appear similar to the CEE? Huw

Hi Huw We're putting together a piece on the Canada market right now. be ready soon. But, the understanding seems to be that the cap gains rate in Canada ws fairly recently cut - to 50 per cent! Cheers Robin

Robin, I believe that actually it's 50% of the capital gain which is taxed at the individual's marginal rate - so better than the UK. Huw

Thanks for this Huw, we'll check this out further. Best regards Robin

I am not sure these oil reserves will ever be used. Because of the energy it takes to extract usable oil from the shale it is the worlds dirtiest fuel,two or three times worse than coal, so maybe a theorectical rather than practical reserve.

The cost of finding and producing oil is increasing, mainly because of the technology required at each stage of the 'value' chain. New discoveries are in hostile climates and conditions and are becoming more and more scarce. 'Peak Oil' is a commonly debated argument - weather the world has reached is maximum oil discoveries/production. Oil is a finite resource. Added to this, the fears over interruption to supply due to security issues is also a concern. Canada being a 'friendly' country to the US, and therefore less of a supply risk, make oil sands attractive. All the majors have huge investment into the technology. They will be used. When? who knows. However, the 'availability' for use in a doomsday scenario is appealing to movements and economists. In any event, its definitely not theorectical. The world needs Oil its simply a matter of how much it costs.

Kevin, that's my view as well. Alan, I've not read a huge amount yet about it but if you put oil sands into Google there are many articles talking about how it's becoming more economic to extract the oil. This is partly due to the oil price but also due to improvemsnts in technology. I was attracted to this in the first place by an article a few moths ago saying how the oil price had made it more attractive to produce oil from these sands. However, the biggest plus point is the political issue. As countries become more and more concerned about the security of their energy supplies the more effort will be made to capitalise on this huge resource in a friendly country. Huw

Hi Robin When do you anticipate your Canada update coming out? A summary of current market is here. http: / /www .newswire .ca /en /releases /archive /March2007 /29 /c7881 .html The standout is the Alberta region with prices in Edmonton having increased by 55% in a year, Saskatoon 32% and Calgary 29%. There still appears to be strong growth as the economic factors are so strong. On this basis, with mortgages far easier to come by and no language difficulties this looks as good a bet as most of the CEE investments. Huw

Hi Huw I think you're absolutely right. We just needed to be sure of a small capital gains issue that initially made the market look like a no-no. We've now got to the bottom of this and the situation is much more positive. Now, finally, to answer your question - in the next few days...definitely! Best regards

Thanks Robin - was the CGT situation it as I thought it was? Huw