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Cares About You

A Fair Share for Our Resources

The NDP Plan for Potash

The NDP believes that the people of Saskatchewan deserve the best possible return on the potash resource they own.

“My argument is that it is actually a poor rent-collector, probably not collecting enough rents on it. In fact, when you kind of look at the numbers it would suggest that.”
- Jack Mintz, StarPhoenix, Feb. 17, 2011

Today, we receive just pennies on the dollar in royalties for each tonne of potash sold by the big potash companies. At the same time, those companies are enjoying record profits: just one potash company reported profits of $1.8 billion in 2010, and cleared $732 million in just the first three months of this year alone – an increase of 71% over the same period last year!

It’s all part of what industry leaders have called a “new norm” in the potash sector, as growing global demand for our world-class non-renewable resource leads to higher prices, higher profits and greater prosperity for private potash companies and their shareholders.

“Taken together, the resource surcharge and Crown royalties amount to five per cent of sales. For every additional dollar of potash extracted, Saskatchewan people will receive a nickel of additional resource royalties.”
- Erin Weir, StarPhoenix, Mar. 21, 2011

Sskatchewan Potash Prices 1980 - 2011

Time to Review Royalties

We think it’s time Saskatchewan people who own the potash resource got a fairer share of that prosperity for themselves and their families. That’s why we’re calling for an independent review of potash royalties, to make sure the big potash companies are paying their fair share for our resources.

“The world needs the mineral. The world needs potash. I think there is actually a public responsibility for the government to go for a review. This would be good for the industry, not just the public, over the long run.”
- Sylvain Charlebois, StarPhoenix, Feb. 17, 2011

And we’re not alone in calling for a royalty review. Experts from across the country have said a potash royalty review would be a good idea.

Jack Mintz, a fiscal and tax policy analyst at the University of Calgary has called the current potash royalty system “just wrong,” while Sylvain Charlebois, Associate Dean of the School of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph, has said that “there is actually a public responsibility for the government to go for a review.”

Benefit Saskatchewan Families

An independent review of Saskatchewan’s potash royalty structure will ensure that we have the financial resources needed to devote to things that benefit Saskatchewan families:

“By ensuring a fair return on our potash, we’ll be able to devote more resources to health care, affordable housing, education, supports for families and seniors, and debt repayment. That’s the kind of positive change the NDP is proposing to benefit all Saskatchewan families.”
- Dwain Lingenfelter, Leader of the Saskatchewan NDP
  • Better Health Care
  • More Affordable Housing
  • Improved Education
  • Enhanced Seniors Care
  • Accelerated Debt Repayment

As the public debate over resource policy continues, you can count on the NDP to keep standing up for the principle that the owners of the resource – Saskatchewan families – deserve the best possible return on that resource, so they can enjoy the benefits of the prosperity that comes with a resource boom.