Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Editor’s note: The Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show is coming soon – and each event sees several people honoured for their contributions to the oilpatch. This year six people have been named as “Southeast Saskatchewan Legends,” including two posthumously. Pipeline Online will be running biographies on each in the coming weeks. Next up is Dale Ziegler. The oil show takes place June 3-4, with the Legends being honoured at the noon luncheon on June 3. You can register for the show and purchase tickets for meals at Oilshow.ca.
Dale Zeiger was born in 1967 and raised on a farm near Francis where he currently resides. During his high school years he worked at a seed plant in Sedley.
Immediately after high school Dale went to work for Lorne Stoppler with Midwest Pipeline, out of Regina. At Midwest he held different roles included labourer, parts runner, side-boom operator, bending machine operator, excavator operator, foreman, assistant superintendent and superintendent. That work took him across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
In 2000 he married Charity Knoll, also of Francis. They had three children – Brett, Breanna and Brodie.
In 1998 Dale started work with Carson Welding and Maintenance out of Lampman. With Carsons his roles included foreman, assistant superintendent, superintendent and Project Manager responsible for managing larger pipeline projects while actively pursuing work with existing and new clients.
In 2011 Carson Energy sold to Flint Energy. Within the next three years there were a lot of changes, as Flint Energy sold to URS and then URS sold to AECOM. His roles with these three companies changed a few times over the next four years, first as operations manager, central area manager and then vice president plains area as Ron Carson was working towards his retirement.
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“It soon became very apparent that our perspective of the importance of looking after our employees and key clients did not line up in any way,” Dale said. “It was time to move on and start a new business and go back to our roots where employees and key clients were the backbone of the operation.”
In early 2016 with the guidance of Ron Carson, some key managers and Dale started planning to start up a new entity, Canadian Plains Energy Services (CPES). It would specialize in pipelines, facility construction, fabrication and crew work, principally in Saskatchewan. Discussions started with Stephen Smith of Strike Energy and it was quickly decided that they would be a perfect fit to join forces with. CPES would be their Saskatchewan footprint.
Dale Ziegler, shortly after the launch of Canadian Plains Energy Services in 2017
Stephen Smith and his team made it very easy to get started in a very timely manner, Dale said. Locations were quickly reopened in many of the old Carson Energy locations including Virden, White City, Alida and Carlyle. At a later date, North Battleford (previously a Strike entity) joined the CPES team. Acquisitions of Brent Gedak Welding in Estevan and Quakes Oilfield Construction in Lloydminster gave CPES a solid footprint in the key areas that the leadership felt it was important to operate out of.
“The key reasons for the success of CPES was due to the dedication and hard work of each and every employee, and I was very proud to work with every one of them,” Dale said.
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In 2018 Dale participated in a STARS fundraiser called “Rescue on the Prairies.” A small team of participants were able to raise over $500,000 for a very good cause.
In 2024 Dale retired from the president role and passed the reins on to Aaron Karpan. He returned to work for a short period as a business development advisor to help with some business development before officially retiring in the fall of 2025. Dale will continue to attend the management meetings periodically going forward.
Dale’s retirement plans include operating a small business out of Francis, traveling with his wife and spending time with family and friends.
In 2000 Charity opened, owned and operated Ziggy Mart, a convenience store/gas station/bakery in Francis. It was sold in 2009. She now works as an executive assistant at McDougall Auctioneer, along with Breanna and Brodie. Breanna has a degree in human resources and Brodie is working towards her degree in speech pathology. Brett works as an equipment operator with Canadian Plains.
Key mentors in Dale’s life include his parents, siblings, Lorne Stoppler, Ron Carson, Stephen Smith and Glen Greenshields.
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