The oil industry in the southeast is seeing some good times, even if that's not always reflected.

Warren Walldegger, the chairman of the Saskatchewan Headquartered Oil Producers, says the current situation is going well.

"I would say the industry is doing very well with US exchange, Canadian exchange, or seeing an uptick in our exported products. So prices are very good and netbacks coming out of the field are very good."

While those prices are strong, oil is somewhat undervalued due to some policies.

"The markets really aren't valuing the current price of oil. Some of that is just to do with government policy and investor sentiment. We're just not seeing investors come into the industry like we have in in past cycles when we've had pricing that's this strong. You're still seeing quite low valuations in terms of price per cash flow or price per flowing barrel. We're at the lower end of the spectrum that we've seen historically over the last, say, 15, 20 years." 

While Walldegger was also pleased with the news that Bill C-69 was ruled unconstitutional, he says that's unlikely to change much.

"I think we've already seen some signals from the feds that they're going to somewhat ignore that ruling and continue on with some legislation that would probably bring some conflict between the provinces and the feds, or continue on with that conflict. It just leads to more investor uncertainty and will I guess shield Canada from foreign investment. I don't expect things to change here anytime soon in terms of investor sentiment and the oil industry in Canada."

"Canadian energy companies are generating significant cost flow and they're returning that cash flow to shareholders. So I think over time the money managers won't be able to ignore those whose dividends and buybacks and the potential for their clients."

"I think time will sort things out and the industry is being very disciplined in their spending. We're just not seeing the rig counts that we normally would with the prices as strong as they are, so I think it's just going to take more time really."

Walldegger also hopes to see more youth recruitment in the field for when business might pick up in the future.

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