Exhibit 31.1

                             Arete Industries, Inc.

                                   Form 10-QSB

                             Arete Industries, Inc.
                          Quarter ended March 31, 2005

                    CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
                        AND PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER
            PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Thomas P. Raabe, certify that:

1.   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-QSB of Arete Industries,
     Inc.

2.   Based on my knowledge, this quarterly 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 quarterly report;

3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
     information included in this quarterly 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
     quarterly report;

4.   The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) 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)) for
     the small business issuer 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 small
          business issuer, including any consolidated subsidiaries, is made
          known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
          period in which this report is being prepared;

     (b)  Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused
          such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under
          our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
          reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
          statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
          accounting principles;

     (c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer'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 small business issuer's
          internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
          small business issuer's most recent fiscal quarter (the small business
          issuer's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that
          has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
          the small business issuer's internal control over financial reporting;
          and

5.   The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I have
     disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
     financial reporting, to the small business issuer's auditors and the audit
     committee of the small business issuer's board of directors (or persons
     performing the equivalent functions):



<PAGE>



     (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 small business issuer'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 small business issuer's
          internal control over financial reporting.


Dated:  May 16, 2005        By:    /s/  Thomas P. Raabe
                                   ---------------------------------------------
                                   Thomas P. Raabe, Chief Executive Officer
                                   Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer
                                   Of the Registrant