The Editor,
Real change means saving Crown corporations from being privatized, but also making them fully accountable to the people of Saskatchewan.
A Saskatchewan Green Party government would pursue a distinct Third Option for the Crowns other that privatization and keeping the Crowns as they are. That option is to turn the Crowns into Crown co-operatives. Under this plan, the provincial government would still be the majority shareholder of a Crown co-operative to ensure the entity is never privatized.
Our party wants to reassure all Crown corporation employees and supporters of the Crowns, that a Saskatchewan Green Party government would never privatize a Crown corporation. Instead, we would democratize the Crowns, by transforming them into Crown co-operatives. For a $5 membership fee, a Saskatchewan citizen would be able to participate in the life of a Crown co-operative in the following ways:
*Vote in annual elections for the Crown co-op’s board of directors.
*Attend the Crown co-op’s public annual general meeting to ask questions of the board, executive and the minister responsible.
*Receive annual dividends from the Crown co-operative.
*Have access to quarterly financial reports of the Crown co-op that would be prepared according to generally accepted accounting principles.
The Crown co-operatives proposal is included in the party’s Real Change platform for the next provincial election in April, 2016.
Democratizing Crown corporations by turning them into Crown co-operatives is a major part of the Real Change vision the Sask Green Party has in store for Saskatchewan people.
Victor Lau
Leader, Sask. Green Party
Regina
