Well, it’s official. The Meadow Lake Pulp Mill is the biggest financial disaster in the long history of government boondoggles. It’s the cream of the crop. The head honcho of failed government investments. And that’s no easy task in Saskatchewan.
Read more...
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Sask: On 19th century industrial policy
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
CTF You Tube Channel
Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Fan Box
3 comments:
Two years ago the writing was on the wall for the pulp and paper industry. Most private companies realized it and took action, and astute investors steered clear of it. This is another example of why government has no business being in business. Even if government is running a financially successful enterprise(which is rare) they have no right to be doing it. The role of government should be to create an atmosphere that will attract entrepreneurial activity to it's territory and to act as a referee.
http://www.mlt.com/meadowlake/MLPLP%20-%20Affidavit%20of%20Heather%20Forbes%20-%20December%2027,%202005.pdf
Pretty sad, the province, through Investment Saskatchewan and SaskPower, has lost almost a billion dollars in this venture. $800M owed to Investment Saskatchewan, another $50 million or so to a numbered company owned by Investment Saskatchewan, millions owed to SaskPower, millions of dollars of SaskPower infrastructure that will probably have to be written off by the utility as stranded costs.
Had Grant Devine et al remained in power, they would at least have had the ideological sense to privatize this investment before it became the absolute cancer that it turned out to be.
When will the politicians learn that they should not compete directly in the economy???
Post a Comment