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Devine set to sell off Sask.

The view from the corner of Alberta St.
and Victoria Ave. in downtown Regina is
different from scenes in other Canadian cit-
1€s. Besides the usual banks and oil compan-
ls, you can see the prominent symbols of
Public ownership: the Saskatchewan Wheat
Pool (owned by farmers), Sask Power, Sas-

atchewan Government Insurance (SGI),
Sask Tel and the Credit Union Central.

But that picture could change drastically
if the Devine government succeeds in its
Wholesale sellout of public assets, the big-
est such move in Canada’s history.

Privatization has been the key goal of the

ories here since their re-election in 1986,
although the issue was kept off the agenda

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during that campaign. Since then, the
government has waged a steady drive to
reverse the province’s history, following the
advice of the neo-conservative think tank,
the Fraser Institute and Margaret Thatcher’s
“experts.”

The government’s March 8 throne speech
moved the effort into high gear, with $2
billion of total assets up for grabs, on top of
the hundreds of millions gone already. Over
80 crown corporations and government
services are on the hit list. By comparison
the federal Tories privatized $1.3 billion
during its first three years in office.

After its election in 1944, the CCF
government here faced the need for a viable
economic infrastructure in the province.
SGI, Sask Minerals, Sask Tel, the Saskat-
chewan Transportation Company (STC),
Sask Power and Saskatchewan Forest Pro-
ducts were established.

Some other ventures proved less success-
ful, but these formed a vital part of the
economy over decades, providing thou-
sands of union jobs.

A new round of public sector expansion
came under the New Democratic Party
government of Allan Blakeney during 1973-
76, including the Potash Corp, Sask Oil and
Gas, the Saskatchewan Mining Develop-
ment Corp., and the Saskatchewan Hous-
ing Corp.

In a province needing a stronger local
economic base, and more control to coun-
ter the interest of big capital headquartered
in central Canada and the U.S., the whole
network of public assets is widely sup-
ported.

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But the often-valid perception of the
Blakeney government as focussed on the
expansion of its empire (in co-operation
with European capital) rather than on the
needs of ordinary people gave the Tories
room to build up an image of uncaring “big
government.” Then the economic turmoil
of the 1982-84 recession hit Saskatchewan
hard, reducing some Crown bodies from
big money makers to losers, and adding to
their debt load.

The Tories used this to their advantage,
first unseating the NDP, and then experi-
menting with privatization during their first
term in office, although with mixed results.
Their auction sale of $40 million worth of
road building equipment for a mere $6 mil-
lion pleased the business sector, but
hundreds of highway workers lost their
jobs. Since then, the roads have deterio-
rated, and the whole exercise is still remem-
bered as a gigantic giveaway.

But the Tories learned from this and
other experiences, and some went to school.
Saskatchewan was the best-represented
province at the Fraser Institute’s ‘‘Privatiza-
tion 87” conference in July 1987, learning a
formula perfected in Britain and elsewhere:
to buy off potential opponents by issuing a
widely based, under-valued share offering;
identify possible objections in advance to
avoid political pitfalls; retain some degree of
government ownership; conduct a hard hit-
ting ideological campaign against your
opponents — in this case the NDP opposi-
tion and the labour movement.

It’s a recipe the Tories have begun to
follow, offering their Sask Tel bonds, for
example, at 14 per cent interest. But as the
process gains momentum, wilder schemes
are coming to light. According to a local
news magazine, Briarpatch, there’s a plan
afoot to use a “shelf company” to take over
STC, before selling it off at $8 a share. That
would give investors a breathtaking 1000
per cent profit.

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Pacific Tribune, April 3, 1989 « 11

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