Â鶹´«Ã½AV

YORKTON - In terms of Saskatchewan resources potash has long been the leader.

That is made rather clear from the outset in the recent book ‘Squandered: Canada’s Potash Legacy’ by Eric Cline.

Readers will recognize Cline from his 16 years in the Legislature with the New Democrats from 1991 to 2007.

Cline begins the preface of the book stating “Potash is a vital resource. Without it, people go hungry. That fact will become only more important as the world population continues to grow.”

From there the focus changes to an examination of whether Saskatchewan people are today receiving their fair share of a resource they own?

“The creation of PCS, its privatization, the explosion of demand for potash, and continued concentration of the industry into a smaller number of players are parts of a fascinating and largely unknown story. Another part of the story involves two competing visions: public enterprise through pubic ownership of a significant part of potash mining on the one hand, and complete private ownership of the potash industry on the other.

"This book sets out to examine the question of how the public interest objectives that led to the creation of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan – industry expansion, market decisions influenced by Saskatchewan interests, and maximization of return to the public for the sale of its resource – have been served in this transaction,” explains Cline in the book.

“. . . This book's thesis is that there is a gross imbalance between corporate return and public share, to the great detriment of Saskatchewan. It asserts that what the people of the province are being paid for their potash is far below the resource's value. This book asserts that if the imbalance is not corrected, the increasing divide between the wealthy and the poor will continue to grow in Saskatchewan, the tax burden on ordinary people and industries other than potash will be too high, and the overall quality of life in Saskatchewan will go down. As such, the question of how the profits of potash should be shared is the most important question Saskatchewan faces.”

In an interview with Yorkton This Week Cline said the book is timely today, because the potash sector entered a different era around 2008, with huge growth in demand and with that the amount corporations were receiving for the potash they mined.

In fact, there have been historically high prices for the resource in recent years, said Cline.

But, added Cline the people of Saskatchewan did not see their share of the resource grow in terms of returns.

“Why are we as people in Saskatchewan not raising the price for our potash?” he asked.

That would typically mean raising the royalties potash companies pay to the province.

Receiving “a reasonable rate of return” since Saskatchewan ultimately owns the resource being mined only makes sense, said Cline.

Cline acknowledged resource revenue can fluctuate. In fact, at times government has had to stimulate the sector in times of low revenues.

But now is different and the people need to share in that, he reiterated.

“In government you manage to what the circumstances are,” said Cline, adding with his resource returns changes to what flowed the province were needed. “. . . Action should have been taken. . . The profits justify they (potash companies) should be paying more.”