Getty's response to these issues was interventionist. During his first budget, he targeted spending at the province's struggling agricultural sector, including a $2 billion loan program meant to address high interest rates. His government tried to stimulate the energy sector by making loan guarantees to Husky Oil ($380 million) and Syncrude ($200 million) for new and expanded capital projects. The government also provided a $55 million guarantee—in addition to a $20 million loan—to Peter Pocklington's Gainers meat-packing plant; when Pocklington defaulted on the loan, the government seized, and eventually closed, the plant. This incident and others contributed to a perception that Getty's administration was willing to spend public money to support large businesses, but that it was indifferent to the struggles of labour (the Gainers loan had initially been made after the government brokered a labour settlement favourable to the plant's management). In 1986 the price of oil bottomed at $US10 a barrel. Getty responded by providing the oil industry with $250 million in incentives and royalty cuts. By the end of 1986 Alberta had granted another nine-month cut from 12% to 1% in royalties at the Suncor oilsands.