REGINA — Be it construction industry stakeholders or politicians, Saskatchewan made headlines in 2017 because of colourful commentary on a variety of issues.
The industry was extremely disappointed and let it be known when the province became the only jurisdiction in Western Canada to fully collect provincial sales tax (PST) on construction services.
The announcement was made as part of the 2017 budget which removed the PST exemption and also raised the PST to six per cent.
“This amounts to a tax on growth because we are the only jurisdiction that taxes construction labour and this will drive up the cost of every project,” said John Lax, an advocacy, governance, and communications official for the Saskatchewan Construction Association (SCA). “We are exceptionally disappointed they decided to make this move. We are already dealing with a fragile economy and now is not the time to push investors away.”
Another move that disappointed those in the province, and across the country, was the cancellation of TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline.
Energy East was proposed to be a 4,500-kilometre pipeline that would have transported approximately 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to the refineries of Eastern Canada and a marine terminal in New Brunswick.
“I think it is unfortunate for the country that we are not going forward with a project that would be great for our national interests,” said Mark Cooper, president of the SCA in reaction to the announcement. “I understand it is a business decision and I just wish that it had been a different decision.”
Saskatchewan also didn’t shy away from its views on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The province took aim at City of Burnaby, B.C. officials saying the city was delaying the pipeline project on purpose and was putting thousands of jobs at risk by not approving permits in a timely manner.
“Saskatchewan has consistently taken the position that once an interprovincial pipeline has been approved by the federal government, provinces and municipalities should not be able to interfere,” said Saskatchewan’s Attorney General Don Morgan.
Burnaby fired back with a letter from its attorneys calling the comments inappropriate and asking for them to be withdrawn.
The permitting matter has since been resolved with Kinder Morgan getting the go-ahead from the National Energy Board in a ruling that exempted the company from certain bylaws.
Several massive infrastructure projects also made waves in 2017 as Saskatchewan celebrated the first phase of the Regina Bypass project wrapping up and made significant progress on Saskatoon’s new Traffic Bridge and North Commuter Parkway.
Both bridges and surrounding road infrastructure are slated for completion in October 2018.
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