**Exhibit 31.1**

 

**Certification**

**(Section302 – Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)**

 

I, Raymond T. Chan, President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Baytex Energy Ltd., certify that:

 

1.                                       I have reviewed this annual report on Form20-F of Baytex Energy Trust;

 

2.                                       Based on my knowledge, this annual reportdoes not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state amaterial fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of thecircumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respectto the period covered by this annual report;

 

3.                                       Based on my knowledge, the financialstatements, and other financial information included in this annual report,fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results ofoperations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periodspresented in this annual report;

 

4.                                       The issuer’s other certifying officer(s) andI are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls andprocedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for theissuer and we have:

 

(a)designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosurecontrols and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure thatmaterial information relating to the registrant, including its consolidatedsubsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularlyduring the period in which this annual report is being prepared;

 

(b)evaluated the effectiveness of the issuer’s disclosure controls and proceduresand presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by thisreport based on such evaluation; and

 

(c)disclosed in this report any change in the issuer’s internal control overfinancial reporting that occurred during the period covered by the annualreport that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materiallyaffect, the issuer’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5.                                       The issuer’s other certifying officer(s) andI have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of the internal controlsover financial reporting, to the issuer’s auditors and the audit committee ofissuer’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):

 

(a) all significantdeficiencies  and material weakness inthe design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which arereasonably likely to adversely affect the issuer’s ability to record, process,summarize and report financial information; and

 

(b) any fraud, whether ornot material, that involves management or other employees who have asignificant role in the issuer’s controls over financial reporting; and

 
| Date:  | July 14, 2004                          |
|--------|----------------------------------------|
|   |                                   |
| By:    | /s/ Raymond T. Chan                    |   |
| Name:  | Raymond T. Chan                        |
| Title: | President and Chief  Executive Officer |

 

----