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“Moving forward, I hope your government will start to recognize the numerous issues that are affecting Canada’s energy sector, and do everything in its power to support an industry which has benefited Canadian prosperity for a long period of time,” Susan Johns, a U.K.-based fund manager, said in the letter, dated Nov. 7.

It follows a similar note last month by Darren Peers, an analyst and investor at Los Angeles-based Capital Research, a US$1.7-trillion fund, which criticized Ottawa for allowing Canadian energy competitiveness to lag.

Johns, who was previously with London-based Consulta, but is now running her own fund called Susan Johns LP, stated in her letter that she has invested in Canadian junior and intermediate companies for more than 30 years.

It is “hard for me to watch such a vibrant industry being strangled by regulation, carbon taxes and the inability of producers to get their product to world markets,” she said in the letter.

Fagerheim said Johns is a household name among junior and intermediate energy CEOs in Canada. Johns did not respond to a request for comment.

In his Oct. 19 letter, Peers said that while he recognizes that Ottawa “has done a lot to maintain Canada’s competitiveness as a country to invest in, when it comes to energy it has not done enough.”

Executives said the two letters should create a sense of urgency that Ottawa needs to take corrective action quickly.

“It is very, very worrisome what is happening to the energy industry in Canada from a competitiveness perspective. That worry for me is even more exacerbated when I look at what’s happening south of the border,” said Cenovus Energy Inc. president and CEO Alex Pourbaix.