Murray Edwards, the billionaire investor and elder statesman of Canada’s hard-hit oilpatch, leaves his Calgary home and relocated to London.
Edwards’ move, that has been the source of speculation in Canada’s energy hub for weeks, was confirmed inside a regulatory filing by Magellan Aerospace Corp., a Mississauga, Ontario-based aircraft manufacturer controlled by Edwards.
The 56-year-old’s residence shows up as London in the annual information form released by Magellan on Wednesday, in contrast to a listing of Alberta last year. He’s been a director from the company since 1995 and it is its largest shareholder, having a 74 per cent stake by June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In prior regulatory documents for others which he’s a director, his residence have been listed as Calgary/Banff, Alberta. Edwards didn’t immediately return phone and e-mail messages on Thursday.
Edwards continues to be immersed in building the oil and natural gas industry in Canada for many years through investments by advising on government policy. To become considered a non-resident by Canada for tax purposes, a person must routinely reside in another country or show they don’t have significant residential ties to Canada by remaining in the country for less than 183 days a year.
Edwards’ move comes as a downturn in oil prices that has extended past 21 months is weighing on Canada’s producers and it has contributed to thousands of job cuts within the nation’s energy industry. Canada’s oilsands are among the most expensive reserves in the world to develop.
At the same time, Alberta’s rich are facing a double hit of higher provincial and federal taxes this season. Lower levies had made Alberta an attractive climate for investment and now that advantage is gone, said Catherine Anne Brown, legislation professor in the University of Calgary focused on tax matters.
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Top Earners
The Alberta government introduced a sliding scale including an 11.25 per cent rate for those who have the highest annual taxable income above $300,000 last October and a 15 per cent rate starting in 2016. The Canadian authorities raised its tax rate to find the best earners to 33 per cent in 2016, from 29 percent previously. Together, the combined rates for the biggest earners increased nine percentage points to 48 percent.
“Exactly the same people who came here looking for attractive tax rates, they’re going to be shopping somewhere else,” Brown said in a phone interview on Thursday. “I think we’ve shot inside us the foot by taking away the Alberta advantage.”
A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Edwards has publicly reported holdings totaling $1.3 billion in companies including Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Magellan, Ensign Energy Services Inc. and Imperial Metals Corp., based on data compiled by Bloomberg. He’s also a part owner and chairman of the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames and owns several ski resorts via a company called Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.
I think we’ve shot inside us the foot by taking away the Alberta advantage.
Edwards is renowned for playing an energetic role in the investments and also the business community, as well as for his concentrate on keeping costs at his companies low and doing deals. He is the chief chairman of Canadian Natural, an operator within the oil sands and frequent consolidator in the nation’s energy industry that is representative of his largest investment by value. In NHL labor talks in 2012 in Ny that resulted in a player lockout, Edwards was among owners at the table.
The investor’s clout in shaping policy continues to be evident both in the national and provincial levels, including in the role like a director of two business-focused research and advocacy groups, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and C.D. Howe Institute.
Edwards was also among a small number of oil executives to publicly offer the Alberta government’s new climate policy introduced last November, which includes a rising carbon tax and emissions limits for industry, appearing on stage to talk after Premier Rachel Notley. The insurance policy was seen as a compromise between energy executives and environmentalists who have long lobbied against developments within the oil sands and proposed pipelines. Edwards said it would switch the adversarial discussion of the past having a better one.
Bloomberg News
