To the Editor:
The "Great Potash Debate" which has raged in Saskatchewan for the last two months as the countdown on the purchase offer of BHP Billiton for PCS comes to an end has raised many questions for Saskatchewan people.
Our great potash resource has been ignored and taken for granted for far too long by our various governments since the privatization of PCS by the Progressive Conservative government in 1989. The safeguards put in place to ensure a Saskatchewan voice in the future of PCS has been frittered away by succeeding NDP governments and ignored by the current Sask party government until the bombshell by BHP Billiton.
Let's get back to the basics. Saskatchewan has 53 per cent of the known potash reserves in the world. It's not like oil and gas whereby you simply move your rig to another part of the world if you are not happy where you are. Because of that dominant position, Saskatchewan can have some say on whom we grant the privilege to come and mine our resource. We set the rules on royalties, taxation and environmental impact. The job of government is to set those rules so that the resource is developed and maximized for the benefit of its owners - the people of Saskatchewan.
The questions that have not been addressed during this takeover attempt by BHP Billiton are ones crucial to the taxpayer and owners of the resource.
One - why has the potash playing field gotten so uneven that it is better to buy a company than build a new mine? What are the tax credits, royalty holidays and other perks given to the potash companies since 1989 that makes this possible? Are not new mining companies and new mines good for Saskatchewan?
Two - why have NDP and Sask party governments been giving away taxpayer funded tax credits to potash companies for their employers of up to $100,000 per year per employee when employees were already here or should have been here anyway? When you own the resource you can set the rules of engagement. The government's job is not to fill downtown Regina or Saskatoon office towers with taxpayer funded jobs. Are taxpayer funded tax credits available in perpetuity?
It is absolutely necessary that these questions should be answered and made available to the public before the deadline on the BHP offer or any other that might arise elsewhere for PCS occurs. The company names are immaterial - what they are prepared to give in return for the privilege of doing business here is what's at stake.
Rick Swenson, Leader of the PC Party of SK.
