Mandryk: Sask. Party was wise to move away from Crown privatization

There was a little politics at the SaskPower annual report news conference on Tuesday, but maybe not as much as one might have expected.

After all, we live in a time when every government-related announcement seems tinged with politics.

And seldom in the history of our “family of Crown corporations” — some of you might be old enough to remember the politics swirling around former NDP premier Allan Blakeney calling them that — have these government entities ever been removed from central political debates in Saskatchewan.

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The great potash “nationalization” debate of 1970s. The Grant Devine Progressive Conservative government’s privatization of the potash and oil resource Crowns of the 1980s. Then came the record bell-ringing at the legislature to prevent introduction of a SaskEnergy privatization bill in 1989. It would define the PC government and — to a large part — the Sask. Party that would emerge from the PCs’ ashes.

And in the decades that have ensued, the Saskatchewan Party has contended with accusations from the NDP and the unions that it has had an eye on privatizing the remaining utility Crown corporations — likely the thing that kept the party from winning in 2003 under Elwin Hermanson’s leadership.

So hearing at least some politics from Crown Investments Corporation (CIC) Minister Dustin Duncan — one of 22 Sask. Party MLAs not seeking reelection in October — seemed little more than that fine, upstanding Saskatchewan tradition.

“We are going to see increases related to the ongoing carbon tax,” said Duncan, adding that while this province desperately needs more generating capabilities, federal Clean Electricity Regulations that are “unconstitutional” now make that “unachievable” and “unaffordable.”

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It’s now up to the courts to again rule on that, after the application for an injunction filed by the Sask. Party government to avoid paying the carbon tax on home heating. Again, what would Crown corporation talk be without a little politics?

But what was surprising about the release of the Crown annual reports for 2023-24 is how little politics — historic or current — there actually was. That’s a good thing.

Mostly, the Crown annuals were all about business and — an advantage for the Sask. Party — business is pretty good:

• SaskPower reported a $184-million profit — a spectacular turnaround from the $172-million loss in 2022-23. It also paid $18 million in dividends to the general revenue fund that will go toward fixing roads and paying teachers, nurses and doctors.
• SaskEnergy announced a $55-million profit — down from the $126 million last year, but still enough to provide a $21-million dividend. In fact, SaskEnergy, which the PCs were so eager to sell 35 years ago, has now provided $116 million GRF dividends in the last five years alone.
• SaskTel — the only remaining publicly owned telephone utility in the country and the Crown Hermanson mused about selling in 2003 — posted net income of $95.4 million and was able to provide a $38.2-million dividend.
• Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) posted $78.1 million in net income while offering some of the lowest auto insurance rates in Canada.

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Of course, solid annual reports don’t necessarily eliminate all public disenchantment with the Crown corporations. Sometimes, success even adds to political discontent.

As a parting gift, Duncan again had to field questions Tuesday on high rates from the monopoly energy Crowns. Here, even the right answer is not particularly satisfactory.

SaskPower alone faces $1.2-billion in capital projects to “sustain, grow and modernize the provincial electricity system” — problems of an aging infrastructure that have little to do with added costs from carbon taxes. And one suspects the carbon tax won’t be around that much longer to serve as a distraction.

But while such politics is bolstering Sask. Party re-election bids, it’s avoidance of past Crown corporation politics that has bolstered its longevity.

If the Sask. Party remained as dogmatic on Crown privatization as it now is on socially conservative issues, would it be doing as well in the polls?

Keeping them as they are may be the wisest thing this Sask. Party government has done.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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