The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that a dissident shareholder's campaign against a proposed merger between Pipestone Energy and Strathcona Resources will be put to the test today. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe says that shareholders of Pipestone are set to vote on a proposal that would see privately held Strathcona Resources buy them out in an all-stock deal, creating a combined company with an initial market capitalization of $8.6-billion. The deal would also see Strathcona -- one of North America's fastest growing oil and gas producers -- go public. The combined company would be the fifth largest oil producer in Canada, according to a Pipestone news release, with current production of 185,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day across the Cold Lake, Alta., Lloydminster, Alta., and Montney, B.C., oil-producing regions. Pipestone's board supports the deal. Strathcona is owned by private equity firm Waterous Energy Fund. Through a series of recent acquisitions, the company has increased its production from 5,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day to 185,000 boe/d in just over six years. Strathcona's executive chair Adam Waterous believes that now is an attractive time for the oil patch.