NDP claims only 51 per cent of government procurements went to Sask. companies

Provincial taxpayer dollars aren’t going towards Saskatchewan companies as often as the government wants you to think, according to Saskatchewan NDP.

The Opposition party claims the provincial government lied about its procurement process.

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The NDP’s argument centres around an April news release, where the government shared that almost 90 per cent of procurements went to Saskatchewan companies in the past five years and 99 per cent towards Canadian companies.

“That’s simply bogus,” NDP critic for jobs and the economy, Aleana Young, said.

According to Young, only 51 per cent of procurements were awarded to companies headquartered in Saskatchewan based on data found in a Freedom of Information request made by the NDP.

Young cited two of the companies qualifying as Saskatchewan businesses on this list as Crumb Rubber Manufacturers (CRM) of Canada Processing ULC and Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada.

“These, by the Sask. Party’s own measures, are being counted as local businesses,” Young said.

While CRM has Canadian locations, Young said its headquarters are in Newport Beach, California.

Likewise, Mitsubishi’s Canadian headquarters are in Ontario, not Saskatchewan.

“It appears that they are defining Saskatchewan, like local businesses, as any business that is operating in Saskatchewan, that has an office in Saskatchewan or is employing people in Saskatchewan,” Young said.

Although meant to be an indictment, Young’s statement is pretty close to the truth.

Qualifying as a “Saskatchewan business”

According to the provincial government, to qualify as a Saskatchewan business a company must fit three criteria.

The first is that they need to have a place of business in Saskatchewan, “where regular business activities are conducted on a permanent basis,” the government wrote in a statement. That place has to be clearly identified by name and open during normal business hours.

The business also needs to employ Saskatchewan residents or be entirely owned by a resident.

Finally, the business needs to be registered in the province with an Information Services Corporation profile, or something equivalent.

Its procurement policy, according to the government, replicates what’s found in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

Under the current qualifications, though, Young said the government is misrepresenting what it means for a company to be local.

“There are lots of companies that have offices in Saskatchewan, but no one would consider local,” Young said.

In addition to Mitsubishi, other car companies that had joint vehicle procurement — like Toyota, Nissan, and Subaru — were also listed as Saskatchewan businesses.

But, awarding procurements to only Saskatchewan headquartered car companies would leave the provincial government without any businesses to choose from.

The NDP’s procurement position “would exclude many Saskatchewan companies from bidding on Saskatchewan work,” according to the government, leaving out businesses that employ thousands of residents.

The provincial government also pointed out that under the NDP’s definition, companies like Evraz wouldn’t count as a Saskatchewan company.

Read more:

• Beck calls removal of counter-tariff measures ‘cowardly’ and ‘tone deaf’
  Nutrien says it has surpassed $1 billion in Indigenous procurement
• Less revenue for SaskTel and SaskPower, as gov. releases Crown reports in single day