EXHIBIT 31.1

I, Thornton J. Donaldson, President and Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

1. I have reviewed  this  quarterly  report on Form 10-QSB of CanWest  Petroleum
Corporation;

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

3.  Based  on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.  The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and  I  are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and have:

      (a)   designed such  disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused such
            disclosure   controls  and  procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
            supervision,  to ensure that  material  information  relating to the
            registrant  is made known to us by others,  particularly  during the
            period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

      (b)   intentionally omitted per SEC rel. 33-8238;

      (c)   evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's  disclosure controls
            and  procedures and presented in this report our  conclusions  about
            the effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures,  as of
            the  end  of the  period  covered  by  this  report  based  on  such
            evaluation; and

      (d)   disclosed  in this  report any change in the  registrant's  internal
            control  over   financial   reporting   that  occurred   during  the
            registrant's  most recent fiscal  quarter (the  registrant's  fourth
            fiscal  quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
            affected,   or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially  affect,  the
            registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,  based on our
most recent  evaluation of internal  control over  financial  reporting,  to the
registrant's  auditors  and the audit  committee  of the  registrant's  board of
directors;

      (a)   all significant  deficiencies and material  weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial  reporting which are
            reasonably  likely to adversely affect the  registrant's  ability to
            record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

      (b)   any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management or
            other  employees  who have a  significant  role in the  registrant's
            internal control over financial reporting.

December 20, 2004

/s/ Thornton J. Donaldson
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Thornton J. Donaldson
President and Chief Executive Officer