Dumping the GTH on the City of Regina doesn’t solve anything
Minister must explain why it’s a good idea when this white elephant is beset with issues
If the Saskatchewan Party government thinks it is wise to dump the Global Transportation Hub (GTH) woes on the City of Regina, it is badly missing what taxpayers hate most.
The only thing taxpayers hate more than having to pay for a white elephant is having to pay for it twice. So why Don Morgan, minister responsible for the GTH, or Regina Mayor Michael Fougere would think such a transfer (or purchase or partnership) of the GTH could be a good idea is a puzzler.
In fairness, it’s not exactly clear Fougere is on board with this idea.
After word leaked out that Morgan was shopping around the notion of some sort of GTH deal with the city, Fougere offered the lukewarm commitment to “look at” and “evaluate” any proposal by the province to divest itself of or partner in the GTH.
“We’re not typically in the market to do that kind of a thing,” Fougere told the Leader-Post’s D.C. Fraser. “On the face, there are challenges to the present circumstance to the GTH, so it would be a challenge.”
Challenges? That might be the understatement of the year.
The government also announced the GTH is carrying a $37-million debt. It has sold only 700 acres of GTH land, with 1,100 acres yet to be sold.
Most of the recent tenants are Crown corporations like SaskPower (at the behest of government), which the city may or may not be able to tax.
Consider the political baggage at the GTH, which now includes an RCMP investigation into whether or not there was something illegal in the land flips that preceded the GTH buying 204 acres of land at $103,000 per acre — four times the initial assessment. (And, by way of information, it was land paid for by the GTH only after former minister Bill Boyd oversaw a $25-million SaskPower land purchase to provide the GTH with the needed cash to buy the overpriced 204 acres. SaskPower has since let it be known it is unlikely to develop its GTH land.)
Private tenants hailed by the Sask. Party government as success stories include Brightenview — the Chinese-investor-backed company that had big dreams for the mall at Dundurn and a mall in Ontario. (New Democratic finance critic Cathy Sproule raised the interesting question: If the city did take over the GTH, would the Brightenview investment still qualify for Immigration Investor Fund money so critical to the viability of its investments?)
For whatever success there has been, there remain massive economic viability issues with this particular inland port in competition with similar facilities in Edmonton and Winnipeg that should be the first and foremost considerations for the city.
But what we all really need to consider is the way most issues around the GTH have been handled, which would now include Morgan’s non-denial/denial on whether there is something in the works with the city.
Approached by Fraser on Wednesday on the possibility of the city taking over, Morgan had every opportunity to say that his Sask. Party government had no interest in hiving off the GTH. He didn’t. Morgan did say the issue hadn’t been discussed in caucus or cabinet. He added, however, that he is looking at the potential of a deal with the city “right now” and “given the proximity and everything else, I’m sure it would be something they would have an interest in.”
And why wouldn’t he look at such a deal? While running for the Sask. Party leadership, nowPremier Scott Moe suggested
“we should look at opportunities to move the management and possible ownership” so the GTH can be “the asset to the economy that was originally envisioned.”
As Fougere put it Wednesday: “It sounds like (Morgan) thought of something, and I would assume he and his colleagues have discussed this at some point, at some level.” Instead of ducking Opposition questions, Morgan needs to come clean on what he has in mind. He needs to explain why dumping this white elephant on the city is a good idea.