REGINA — The opposition New Democrats and the Saskatchewan Party government were once again blasting away at each other Tuesday on the issue of procurement practices.
This time, the NDP were accusing the Sask Party of having been “caught misrepresenting its procurement practices” — according to the NDP’s news release.
“The Sask Party lied about its procurement processes,” said Jobs and the Economy critic Aleana Young at a news conference at the Legislature Tuesday.
“When the trade war first erupted they claimed that 90 per cent of government procurement went to Saskatchewan companies and 99 per cent went to Canadian ones. But that is simply bogus.”
According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the NDP, SaskBuilds had awarded 666 contracts in the 2024–25 fiscal year. The NDP claimed the number of businesses classified as “Saskatchewan-based” was inflated by counting out-of-province and even international companies as local.
The Opposition claims only 51 per cent of contracts actually went to companies headquartered in Saskatchewan, and only 58 per cent of total contract dollars flowed to those Saskatchewan-based firms.
Companies defined as “Saskatchewan-based” included Crumb Rubber Manufacturing of Newport Beach, California, and Mitsubishi of Canada, headquartered in Ontario.
“Anybody on the street will tell you you can't call any company a local business just because they’ve got a PO Box here, that’s not how it works,” said Young. “Not only is this dishonest and a betrayal of Saskatchewan workers and businesses, it’s also part of a disturbing pattern of behaviour with this government — say one thing and do another.”
Young also blasted the government again over its walk-back of the buy-Canada procurement policy a few weeks ago. “It’s clear it never existed in the first place,” said Young.
“This is a government that was never serious about supporting Saskatchewan workers and businesses. In fact, it betrayed them. This policy is bogus. It was for show.”
Sask Party government responds
In response, the Sask Party government fired back with a statement calling the NDP news release “an irresponsible attack on Saskatchewan workers.”
“Under the NDP definition, they wouldn’t consider companies like Evraz to be Saskatchewan companies. They say they support Saskatchewan steel workers, but don’t think they should be allowed to bid on Saskatchewan work.”
The province states the government definition replicates what is in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. Each competition that is posted by the province asks that businesses declare as a Saskatchewan Business if they meet the following criteria: have a place of business in Saskatchewan, employ Saskatchewan residents or sole proprietorship owned by a Saskatchewan resident; and be registered business in Saskatchewan with an Information Services Corporation profile or equivalent.
The governmentalso pointed to wording in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement to define a Canadian supplier, meaning a “supplier that has a place of business in Canada.” They also pointed to the definition in the Investment Canada Act of having a place of business in Canada, an individual or individuals in Canada who are employed or self-employed in connection with the business, and assets in Canada used in carrying on the business.
The province also provided numbers pointing to SaskBuilds and Procurement awarding more than 650 procurements valued at approximately $689.5 million in 2024-25. The province states 90 per cent, or $617.6 million, was awarded to Saskatchewan-based companies; around 10 per cent was awarded to businesses from other provinces in Canada and around 0.1 per cent of the procurement value was to companies from the United States.
“The NDP position on procurement would exclude many Saskatchewan companies from bidding on Saskatchewan work. These companies employ thousands of Saskatchewan employees that build our province, pay taxes and invest in local communities.”
The Sask Party government news release also stated that while the NDP were in office, Saskatchewan’s Crowns lost about $250 million on “failed equity investments in other countries, in companies with no Saskatchewan presence or employees.”
"It’s wild yet not shocking that the out-of-touch Sask. Party government doubled down on their misleading procurement practices," was the reaction from Young in a statement.
Young then went on to blast the provider of Premier Scott Moe's social media content.
"Does the Sask. Party think that Emplifi Czech Republic – based in Plzen – is a Saskatchewan business too? Are taxpayers now paying $300,000 for someone in the Czech Republic to write all of Scott Moe's Facebook posts?" Young stated. "They cut a deal with this company just a few weeks ago, the same day news broke that they cancelled their so-called local procurement policy and just days after Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Saskatchewan steel, which is killing jobs."
