NO BUSINESS CASE

Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government, in which Brad Wall was a ministerial assistant, decided in 1989 to sell the assets of the publicly owned Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

The debate on the logic of this privatization continues, with a highly profitable resource-based business earning huge profits and contributing a disproportionately small amount in royalties to the people of Saskatchewan.

Today we have a conservative government led by Premier Wall, who is musing about privatizing publicly owned liquor stores. While many argue the government should not be in the business of selling alcohol, let’s consider some positives in retaining this Crown enterprise.

In the 2009-10 budget, the government banked on receiving $1.9 billion in potash royalties. It later changed that to just $109 million (oops.) Provincial liquor sales that year contributed $205 million to government coffers. The 2012-13 budget also had some balancing issues, with non-renewable resource revenue lower than expected by $632 million. Liquor sales that year were $232 million.

As a business case, removing guaranteed income for the province makes no sense. Average revenue from liquor was over $200 million annually from 2008-09, with net profits growing each year. That is more than $1 billion to be used for schools, hospitals and infrastructure. This money goes a long way to help correct the budget errors this government is prone to make.

In addition, SLGA is a strong contributor to community and volunteer groups, providing $6.8 million in grants in 2012-13. Perhaps Wall can explain to these groups where their funding will come from if liquor sales are privatized. Bob Stadnichuk Saskatoon