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CASH DISTRIBUTIONS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
CASH DISTRIBUTIONS  
CASH DISTRIBUTIONS

NOTE 10    CASH DISTRIBUTIONS

The Partnership makes cash distributions to its partners with respect to each calendar quarter within 45 days after the end of each quarter. Distributions are based on Available Cash, as defined in the Partnership Agreement, which includes all cash and cash equivalents of the Partnership and working capital borrowings less reserves established by the General Partner. The unitholders currently receive a quarterly distribution of $0.77 per common unit if and to the extent there is sufficient Available Cash.

As an incentive, the General Partner's percentage interest in quarterly distributions is increased after certain specified target levels are met. Prior to July 1, 2009, the combined general partner interest and incentive distribution interest payable to the General Partner were 15 percent, 25 percent, and 50 percent of all quarterly distributions of Available Cash that exceed target levels of $0.45, $0.5275 and $0.69 per common unit, respectively. On July 1, 2009, the incentive distributions were revised under the Second Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of the Partnership. Currently, the combined general partner interest and incentive distribution interest payable to the General Partner are 15 percent and a maximum of 25 percent of all quarterly distributions of Available Cash that exceed target levels of $0.81 and $0.88, respectively, per common unit.

For the year ended December 31, 2011, the Partnership distributed $3.04 per common unit (2010 – $2.94 per common unit; 2009 – $2.87 per common unit) for a total of $154.8 million (2010 – $138.7 million; 2009 – $117.0 million). The distributions paid for the year ended December 31, 2011 included no incentive distributions to the General Partner (2010 – $nil; 2009 – $5.3 million). Partnership income is allocated to the General Partner and the limited partners in accordance with their respective partnership percentages, after giving effect to any priority income allocations for incentive distributions that are allocated 100 percent to the General Partner.