An exposé of the reality of Saskatchewan’s potash industry management—prioritizing private profit over public interest
A single province in Canada—Saskatchewan—is blessed with a remarkable birthright: 50% of the world’s potash reserves.
Potassium is a necessary ingredient of the fertilizer required to feed a growing world population. Accordingly, prices and corporate profits have soared to unprecedented levels in recent decades. While other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Norway have taken steps to capture the value of their natural resources for their people, Saskatchewan has failed to leverage the value of its potash and has given much of it up for an inadequate price.
Billions of dollars of forgone revenue has resulted in tax unfairness, program underfunding and malfunction, and a growing and worrying divide between the affluent and the very poor. Analysts from across the political spectrum have identified this revenue problem, as well as a straightforward solution. Unfortunately, the Saskatchewan government has declined to review the situation and instead seems to rely upon the advice of the industry itself. The province now faces the game-changing issue of how to tax appropriately the small number of multinational conglomerates that now own these potash mines. Whether or not the province obtains reasonable value for its potash will determine whether Saskatchewan will be a place of opportunity for all of its citizens or continue on a path of wealth for a few and extreme poverty for many.
A single province in Canada—Saskatchewan—is blessed with a remarkable birthright: 50% of the world’s potash reserves.
Potassium is a necessary ingredient of the fertilizer required to feed a growing world population. Accordingly, prices and corporate profits have soared to unprecedented levels in recent decades. While other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Norway have taken steps to capture the value of their natural resources for their people, Saskatchewan has failed to leverage the value of its potash and has given much of it up for an inadequate price.
Billions of dollars of forgone revenue has resulted in tax unfairness, program underfunding and malfunction, and a growing and worrying divide between the affluent and the very poor. Analysts from across the political spectrum have identified this revenue problem, as well as a straightforward solution. Unfortunately, the Saskatchewan government has declined to review the situation and instead seems to rely upon the advice of the industry itself. The province now faces the game-changing issue of how to tax appropriately the small number of multinational conglomerates that now own these potash mines. Whether or not the province obtains reasonable value for its potash will determine whether Saskatchewan will be a place of opportunity for all of its citizens or continue on a path of wealth for a few and extreme poverty for many.
Authors
- Pages
- 176
- Published in
- Canada
Table of Contents
- CONTENTS 7
- LIST OF TABLES 9
- PREFACE 11
- INTRODUCTION 13
- O N E 17
- THE IMPORTANCE OF POTASH 17
- T W O 25
- BRANCH PLANT POTASH MINE DEVELOPMENT 25
- T H R E E 29
- PUBLIC OWNERSHIP THROUGH THE POTASH CORPORATION OF SASKATCHEWAN 29
- F O U R 49
- PRIVATIZATION OF THE POTASH CORPORATION OF SASKATCHEWAN 49
- F I v E 59
- POTASH MINES CANT BE MOVED TO CHICAGO 59
- S I x 71
- INTEGRATION OF THE POTASH CORPORATION OF SASKATCHEWAN INTO NUTRIEN 71
- S E v E N 85
- CONSEQUENCES OF CHOICES MADE IN 1989 2010 AND 2018 85
- E I G H T 91
- THE PROFITS OF POTASH 91
- N I N E 127
- FIXING THE POTASH TAX PROBLEM 127
- T E N 133
- CORPORATE WINDFALL SASKATCHEWAN SHORTFALL 133
- CONCLUSION 145
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 153
- A P P E N D I x A 155
- VALUE OF POTASH SALES AND PAYMENTS TO PUBLIC TREASURY 19622022 155
- A P P E N D I x B 159
- POTASH PRODUCTION VOLUME AND AVERAGE PRICE 19972022 159
- NOTES 161
- BIBLIOGRAPHY 171
- BOOKS 171
- ACADEMIC PAPERS REPORTS STUDIES AND COMMISSIONS 171
- MEDIA REPORTS 173
- GOvERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 174
- CORPORATE DOCUMENTS 175
- INDEX 177
