Originally published March 20, 2025 at The Narwhal. Read the full story here.

Don Taylor is a well-known figure in the world of business and philanthropy in Alberta. His family name adorns university libraries and performing arts centres, not to mention the newly built polar bear enclosure at the Calgary Zoo.  

He’s an officer of the Order of Canada and a laureate of the Alberta Business Hall of Fame, largely for his work building a company called Engineered Air into one of North America’s largest manufacturers of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Taylor is also known for his decades-long push to nearly double the size of Canmore through the Three Sisters Mountain Village development, which he co-owns. 

What Taylor is not known for is being one of the owners of oil and gas operators that have failed to pay their bills when it comes to required oil and gas cleanup fees. According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, one of two delinquent companies he co-owns also owes over $180,000 in unpaid municipal taxes.

Part of the reason that’s not well known is simple —  the information is not easy to come by. 

For the past two years, the Alberta Energy Regulator has issued an annual liability management report, highlighting its progress on tackling Alberta’s multi-billion-dollar oil and gas cleanup problem. Part of that reporting includes publishing the names of companies that have failed to make specific payments related to cleaning up old wells — minimum spending on closing old wells, or mandatory levies paid to the Orphan Well Association which cleans up sites with no viable owner. 

But that list means little to most Albertans, and it certainly doesn’t shed light on the people behind these companies.

The Narwhal spent weeks collecting and organizing corporate registry documents for the companies named by the regulator and built a detailed database of the voting shareholders, directors and any associated companies. 

The end result is a peek into the complex web of ownership in Alberta’s oilpatch, and sheds light on some of the prominent people — including Taylor, former prime minister Stephen Harper and other well-connected businesspeople — behind companies the regulator says haven’t met their obligations. 

Some of the ultimate decision-makers and beneficiaries of the companies listed by the regulator have significant power and wealth — wealth that likely exceeds any amount owing for the right to extract the province’s natural resources. 

The Narwhal has focused on highlighting some of the more prominent names attached to a small handful of companies. Despite the millions owed, the listed companies still represent only a small portion of the multi-billion-dollar cleanup costs in the province. And while transparency is a crucial first step, some critics say the regulator needs to do more to address the larger cleanup issue.

David Cooper, a professor emeritus in accounting who studied regulatory systems at the University of Alberta, says transparency is critical in regulatory work and Alberta needs to catch up. 

“In many jurisdictions, there are many more restrictions on making your company anonymous or making ownership anonymous,” he said. “Alberta is an outlier in regard to the secrecy of corporate behavior and ownership in Canada, let alone the rest of the world.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE NARWHAL.