Nearly seventy years ago in 1944, the government of Saskatchewan passed the Saskatchewan Government Insurance Act, creating the provincial Crown Corporation, known today as SGI. Within a year, on May 1, 1945, Saskatchewan SGI officially sold its first policy. SGI was originally created to assist with problems in the Saskatchewan insurance industry, due largely to poor economic conditions that had forced private insurers to leave the province. According to SGI’s 2012 Annual Report, at the time of SGI’s creation, less than 10 per cent of licensed Saskatchewan vehicles carried any ins...

The results are beginning to roll in from our Crown Corporations about their performance and successes over the last year. It is undeniable that 2011 was an excellent year for Crowns in Saskatchewan, many posting higher profits than previous years. SaskPower posted record profits while SaskTel reached $1 billion in revenue for the sixth consecutive year.Crown Investment Corporation (CIC) predicts that 2012 will see a $273 million dividend to the provincial government, including a special dividend from SaskPower.What you might find in the fine print is that the government has increased Crown Co...

There has been a lot of media buzz around SaskTel issues for a number of months in Saskatchewan...including not only network problems, but also problems with the RIM network for all Blackberry users which is out of SaskTel's control.However, until the last couple of weeks, the people of SaskTel have been gracious in affording SaskTel some time and space to deal with the growing pains of upgrading our cellular network.When Premier Brad Wall chimes in with dropped call irritations, it suddenly makes it into the official throne speech and has the media buzzing.In an article in the Saskatoon Star ...

With just over two weeks having passed since the Saskatchewan provincial election, Premier Brad Wall is already making comments that are stirring up conversations about whether or not SaskTel should be privatized.Over the years amidst increased competition, SaskTel has stacked up well to the much larger competitors across the country like Rogers, Bell, and Telus. Last year in a Consumer Reports Canada special report, SaskTel actually scored far above these other well known companies. SaskTel received the “highest marks across the board for voice connectivity-as in service with good cover...

Today is Saskatchewan, Crown Corporations are being sold off, contracted out, deregulated and dismantled slowly by the Brad Wall government.  As the people of the province, we are being lied to about the future of the very organizations that we have built from the ground up. Today in Saskatchewan when the government says they have not sold off any Crown Corporations, ask them about the Saskatchewan Communications Network. A Crown that was valued at nearly $4 million and was attributed to attracting millions of dollars a year for the television film industry in Saskatchewan – SOLD f...

The government is destroying our Crowns like SaskTel by taking 100 percent of their dividends and forcing them to increase debt, while selling off profitable assets.   Following a record breaking year of operating income SaskTel will be forced to increase their debt-to-equity ratio in 2010 from approximately 24 percent to 36 percent. As Sarah Mills reported, our current government is partially to blame.   Due to the mismanagement of Saskatchewan’s finances, our current government is making up for their mistakes by once again tying the hands of our Crowns.  “The g...