You know what yanks my Cord

…when the government meddles in what should be provinical decisions. Saskatchewan’s government isn’t anti-business, it’s pro-common sense.

When Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan, stood up to the microphone last week and stated clearly to reporters that Saskatchewan was not in support of BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, that should have provided a very clear instruction to federal officials to deny the takeover.

But that wasn’t enough.

Neither did the fact that this was a hostile takeover, against the wishes of Potash Corp’s board of directors and CEO, encourage them to move swiftly to block this.

Instead for the last two months shareholders of both corporations have been waiting intently to hear the outcome of this decision, which will have lasting implications for Saskatchewan and the farmers of this country.

After all, Potash is a cheap way to obtain the potassium used in industrial fertilizers.
The reality is, the federal government is more likely to side with BHP Billiton, with a few compromises.

Rather than dare stand among the hypocrite leaders of the world, who while vocally oppose protectionism silently introduced policies supportive of only their own industries, our Conservative government has kept up its mantra of keeping Canada “open for business.”

In truth, Canada is very open for business, particularly for the mining industry.

There’s a reason why more mining, gas and oil companies are listed on the TSX than any other stock exchange in the world.

Even federally we don’t suffer from the same political instability that plagues a lot of other countries, corruption isn’t as big of an issue, we are the second largest country in the world by area and our banks never failed.

That being said however, I highly doubt other businesses are going to be turned off Canada because we blocked this one takeover.

To hand over 55 per cent of Saskatchewan’s production of Potash to the world’s largest mining corporation is irresponsible government. Corporations are great for business, but like everything in life, moderation is critical.

Leave the business of Saskatchewan up to Saskatchewan’s leader and Ottawa needs to butt out of provincial affairs.

—Keith Marshall