STC wind down cost $7.6M, banked $27M in sales

The cost of shutting down the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) was $7.6 million, according to the corporation in charge of the government's Crowns.

Most of that $7.6 million was paid out in severance to former employees, including the money an arbitrator ordered the province to pay 95 employees after it found STC was in violation of the labour code.

The government said it banked $27.9 million from the sale of the bus company's assets, such as buses to former depots.

As of Fridayonly one building a maintenancefacility in Regina had yet to be sold. The government said it expectsthat building to be sold by next spring.

Crown Investments Minister Joe Hargrave said the government isbound byconfidentiality agreements so it cannot reveal the sale cost of individual items.

"In those businesses, it's highly competitive and people don't want to reveal how much they overbid or underbid on any of those assets 'cause it affects any future bids, not only with our government but with other companiesthat they deal with."

The Saskatchewan NDPisn't satisfied with that argument. NDP MLA Nicole Sarauersaid that because these were public assets, members have a right to know details about their sales .

"This wind-down has had a huge impact on a lot of people," she said.

In 2017-18, STC paid $22 million in dividends to the Crown Investments Corporation (CIC) the government entity in charge of the provincial Crowns.

In total, CICearned $503 million, an increase of $104 million from the previous fiscal year. It transferred $205 million in dividends into the province's general revenue fund.

SaskPowerhas $7.9B debt

SaskPowerwas the only Crown corporation not to transfer a portion of its earnings to the corporation and, by extension, the government's coffers.

The last year SaskPower paid a dividend was 2011.

The CIC cited SaskPower's debt load, which now sits at $7.9 billion due to capital spending on upgrades to major infrastructure and thedecision to keep rate increases moderate

CICpresident and CEO Blair Swystun gave no timeline for when it could start to pay.

"It very much depends on the cost of various generation option that SaskPower's considering in its plan to get to 50 per cent renewables by 2030," he told reporters Friday.