Minister rebuffs NDP call for cost of shutdown

The Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the provincial government to provide a detailed accounting of its decision to shut down the Saskatchewan Transportation Co. last year, which it has no plans to do.

While the province has said it expects the 71-year-old bus company’s assets to fetch around $30 million, few details have been provided apart from those related to two public land sales.

That isn’t good enough for the NDP’S Crown Investments Corp. (CIC) critic, who questioned whether Saskatchewan taxpayers should be kept in the dark about the fate of a Crown corporation.

“I think (the government) just wants to make STC go away,” Cathy Sproule said Tuesday afternoon in an interview.

Speaking to a legislative committee last week, CIC Minister Joe Hargrave said: “The people of Saskatchewan will see that the value has come out of the assets, and what that value is … when the assets are sold.”

However, Hargrave went on to say confidentiality agreements signed an industrial liquidator for competitive reasons mean the sale price of STC’S fleet and thousands of pieces of equipment will not be disclosed.

Apart from the sale of the STC building in Regina for $16.25 million and land in Saskatoon for $4.8 million, the rest of the sales will be announced as a lump sum, Hargrave said, according to the Hansard record.

In an interview Tuesday, Hargrave noted confidentiality clauses are common in private business, and few firms would be happy to do business with a government that revealed their competitive information.

“I’d rather have 10 bidders than one bidder, because the price will probably be much better,” Hargrave said.

That isn’t good enough for Sproule, who reiterated her remarks to the committee that the Saskatchewan government is favouring a private business over the shareholders of a publicly owned Crown corporation.

The provincial government announced plans to shut down STC in its 2017-18 budget, which was tabled in March 2017. The decision is understood to be among the most controversial in the unpopular austerity budget.

At the end of March 2017, STC’S property and equipment was valued at $19.8 million, after a $14.7 million impairment charge — related to the cost of selling an asset — and $2.7 million in depreciation were applied.

While the buses ground to a halt for the final time more than a year ago, it remains unclear how much the provincial government spent to wind up STC, which would have cost $17.1 million to run for the full year.

Hargrave declined to comment on specific questions about the cost of the wind-up, saying that information is scheduled to come out soon, but acknowledged that $5.8 million has been allocated for severances.

That includes $1.2 million in severance for a total of 95 employees the government paid after an arbitrator found STC violated two sections of the Canada Labour Code during the shutdown last spring.at the time, STC had 224 employees.

While Hargrave said he is generally pleased with how the windup went, Sproule said she just wants accountability and transparency from the government.

I’d rather have 10 bidders than one bidder, because the price will probably be much better.