1930-31: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba secure constitutional amendment guaranteeing provincial ownership of natural resources. Royalties set at five per cent flat rate.

1935: Alberta doubles royalties to 10 per cent.

1941-43: Flat rate royalty set at 12.5 per cent or five to 15 percent based on production. Gas royalty increased to 15 per cent.

1951: Alberta raises royalties to 16.6 per cent.

1962: Gas royalty rate increased to 16.67per cent.

1972: Peter Lougheed, upon election, raises royalties to 25 per cent, promising Albertans will collect healthy "economic rents" for letting industry mine Alberta's natural resources.

1974: Alberta and Saskatchewan hike royalties, and Ottawa cancels royalty tax deductions. Drilling rigs leave in droves to the U.S. and the oilpatch gets angry.

1993: Major royalty changes to price-inflation indexing. A third tier vintage is introduced and heavy oil vintages are separated from light.

1996: A federal-provincial agreement on oilsands royalty kickstarts a development wave, charging one per cent of a project's gross revenues until the project's investment costs are paid in full. Then the rate increases to about 25 per cent of net revenue.

Sept. 18, 2007: A government-appointed blue ribbon panel released a report Sept. 18 that said Albertans have not been getting their fair share of energy revenues, and it recommended raising royalty rates from 1 per cent to 20 per cent, or $2 billion a year.

Oct. 01, 2007: Alberta's Auditor General said the province is losing billions in royalties that were owed by energy companies but were never collected. His report also said the royalty holiday for new oilsands projects achieved its objectives years ago and is no longer necessary.

Mid-Oct. 2007: Government expected to respond to the blue-ribbon panel's recommendations.