Activist group wants clarity on auction, sale of STC assets
SASKATOON As an industrial liquidator prepares to sell the Saskatchewan Transportation Co.’s fleet of buses and hundreds of other items to the highest bidder, an activist group dedicated to saving the provincial bus service is coming to grips with reality.
“We can’t get the busses back on the road. That’s a reality. Even the most rosy-tinted look at things, that has to be understood,” said Save STC spokesman Martin Wooldridge, whose group forms part of the broader Stop the Cuts movement.
“I think the best bet — and I guess it’s not a very solid bet — is if there’s a change in government the next time an election comes around, we know the NDP is committed to reviving a bus service. But that’s going to be pretty hard to achieve with the sale of the rolling stock.”
The provincial government last month announced it had sold “most” of the 71-year-old Crown corporation’s assets for an estimated $29 million. Hilco Industrial Acquisitions Canada ULC on Thursday said it plans to sell off what it purchased next month.
The defunct bus company’s fleet — 45 coaches and 13 trailers — will be sold in a sealed bid auction closing Feb. 28. Hundreds of other items, from forklifts and engine hoists to hand tools and office furniture, will be auctioned off on Feb. 1, the company said.
Gary Epstein, executive vicepresident of Hilco Industrial Acquisitions’ parent company, said while it’s impossible to say how many bids the company will receive on STC’s busses, a diverse range of potential buyers have shown “an incredible amount of interest.”
The government announced plans to shut down the moneylosing STC in its 2017-18 budget, which aimed to halve a $1.2 billion deficit this year. Joe Hargrave, the minister responsible, said jettisoning the annual subsidy would save taxpayers $85 million over five years.
That explanation was not good enough for Wooldridge and the other members of Save STC, who have argued the cost of shutting down the company could exceed the estimated savings, and unsuccessfully pushed the auditor to look into the government’s accounting.
Epstein said Hilco typically keeps its sales and profits confidential. Citing a confidentiality agreement, a government spokeswoman said she could not reveal how much Hilco paid for the busses and other items. All of STC’s assets were appraised at $25.7 million.
Wooldridge said he and other members of the group plan to continue pushing for answers, because anger over the government’s decision to wind up the Crown corporation has not subsided.
“The government has the idea, or works on the concept that, this is all highly confidential as if it was a private business. These are the assets of the people of Saskatchewan. That seems to be forgotten.”