Speech - June 20th, 2002

NATURAL GAS FIND NEAR SHACKLETON

Mr. Wall: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s an honour to respond to the announcement, the ministerial statement, on behalf of the official opposition Saskatchewan Party.  Mr. Speaker, the news today, the news today of the discovery of this Shackleton reserve is good news indeed for Swift Current — my hometown, Mr. Speaker — for southwest Saskatchewan, and for the entire province, Mr. Speaker. And the official opposition would like to congratulate Profico Energy and Husky Energy on this initiative.

We want to congratulate them for their commitment to invest in this particular industry in the province, and I believe, Mr. Speaker, the information the minister read is, this find represents almost 20 per cent . . . fully 20 per cent of the current reserve in all of the province of Saskatchewan. So it is a very significant find and it will have a major economic impact in my hometown and across southwest Saskatchewan.

And you know, Mr. Speaker, even more impressive about this announcement is the fact that the private sector, the private sector in these energy companies, are going ahead with this investment in a jurisdiction that offers them the highest capital tax rate in all of Canada. That’s how good this find is, Mr. Speaker. That’s how good these . . . large these reserves are, that they’re prepared to come to this province given the current business climate and given the highest corporate capital tax in all of Canada.

Now to be fair, Mr. Speaker, to be fair . . .

Mr. Wall: — You know, to be fair, Mr. Speaker, TransGas, the subsidiary of the provincial Crown corporation, is very much involved in the project. They are the monopoly distributor of gas in the province and so you need them simply to provide the pipeline infrastructure for this project to go ahead.

But they are there, Mr. Speaker. They made the decision to make the investment, did TransGas, and they gave this province a perfect example of what Crown corporations can do when they focus on their core function and when they focus on the province instead of Chile and Mexico, Mr. Speaker. And more to the point, they’re showing the province what they can do when they partner with the private sector.

And I would just conclude with this, Mr. Speaker. We understand that this same subsidiary, this same subsidiary may be a candidate for a joint venture privatization that would even more fully develop this particular subsidiary, that would more . . . that would enable this particular subsidiary to expand in Saskatchewan and to protect head office jobs.

We understand that SaskEnergy officials are working on a couple of deals right now for such a joint venture privatization and we would say this, in addition to commending this news today of this find, we would say to the government to join with the Saskatchewan Party pragmatic position on Crowns. If this deal is a good one for the Crown corporation and for the province of Saskatchewan, put down the manifesto and do the deal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Some Hon. Members: Hear, hear!