Yorkton's NDP Candidate Chad Blenkin is calling on the provincial government for an immediate review of the potash situation in the province. He says a review of royalties is urgently needed to ensure Saskatchewan families are benefiting from the mining of the natural resource.
"Looking at the financial reports over the past two years Saskatchewan has paid Potash Corp $23 million, while Potash Corp has profited almost $2.8 billion." Blenkin says. "I'm not sure if I can think of another business where the seller pays the buyer to profit from their product.
"In 2009 Potash Corporation headquartered in Chicago made $988 million and the Province of Saskatchewan ended up paying $100 million back to Potash Corp because Brad Wall and the Sask Party wildly over estimated the potash royalties and took a cash advance on those estimates."
In 2010 he adds, Potash Corporation netted $1.8 billion off Saskatchewan potash and paid Saskatchewan people $77 million in royalties.
"Many concerned people have contacted our office asking questions. They feel the province isn't getting a fair share for their resource and they're not seeing the benefits." Blenkin says.
"Saskatchewan is collecting far too little revenue from potash and could collect substantially more without impeding development. These revenues could benefit the people of Yorkton in areas such as affordable housing, the recruitment of more doctors or providing adequate funding to the Sunrise Health Region so they don't have to run a $2.8 million deficit."
