The Potash Party Hangover

transplant v 1 transfer, move, remove, shift, relocate

Saskatchewanian n 1 an individual who resides in the Province of Saskatchewan in Canada

The above is meant as a reference for the disclosure I am about to make. Are you ready?

I, Greg Berg, am a transplanted Saskatchewanian living in Manitoba.

Whew, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Now that we've recovered, and I've stated my bias, please allow me to continue.

I share my birthplace of Esterhazy with acclaimed Canadian author, Guy Vanderhaeghe. My hometown is a simple, quiet place. The people who live there are cut from good cloth: they are friendly, supportive, act with good intention, and live within optimistic norms. Other than the farmers whose agricultural endeavours stretch as far as the eye can see, there is another staple of business that contributes by and large to keep the community afloat. Esterhazy practically sits on top of one of the largest potash deposits in the world. Esterhazy is a mining town.

The potash business in Saskatchewan has been a focus in the news lately and I had to weigh in. I grew up within a stones throw of this impressive mineral deposit, and I've seen the tailings mound grow higher year after year. The potash business is booming, and for a good reason. Our agricultural system is expected to do more with less. Fertilizers are replacing nutrients in the soil that would naturally be replaced over time. We need our arable land to recover faster in order to get the next crop in the ground. Land and soil have basically become a medium to shore up a plant's root system; chemicals do the rest. So far, demand has yet to outstrip supply. But one thing is for sure, potash is big business.

At issue is the Canadian Governnment's recent decision to halt the takeover bid by BHP Billiton of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (see History 1989). At first I thought it was all about keeping a company "Canadian," until you can see that PCS had once been a Crown Corporation. As Potash Corp is now publicly traded, one can't even say this company is Canadian owned even if its headquarters are in Saskatoon.

Now, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is preparing talk of revisiting the Investment Canada Act. I find this interesting as this document was written in 1985 during a period when the Progressive Conservative's (a precursor to the Conservative Party of Canada) were leading the country under former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney; Canada appeared to be "open for business" in 1988. Could it be that the Investment Canada Act was tidily written to allow easy progression of NAFTA? If so, I guess it was just a matter of time before another country other than the U.S. stood up and took notice.

Being as fertilizer is such an integral part of modern agriculture, I guess the time is now. There will be a lot of debate that will come out of this decision – its merits and demerits – but history will be the ultimate decider.