Potash: An Inside Account of Saskatchewan's Pink Gold

John BurtonPotash: An Inside Account of Saskatchewan's Pink GoldRegina, Canada: University of Regina Press, 2014Reviewed by Eleanor D. GlorDuring the past 21 years, this journal has addressed many innovations and some innovative governments. None of the articles and books has detailed the innovativeness and innovations of these governments to the extent that the Government of Saskatchewan, Canada, has been documented (e.g. Harding, 1995; Glor, 1997, 2002; Pitsula & Rasmussen, 1990; Baron and Jackson, 1991; Biggs and Stobbe, 1991). Some might think there is nothing more to be said about this highly innovative government, but they would be wrong.Potash is a unique insider's look at the unprecedented purchase by the Government of Saskatchewan of forty per cent of the province's potash mining capacity in 1975 and subsequent years. It is not, however, a one-sided, partisan look at the issues, strategies and developments. Rather, it is a balanced, nuanced and dramatic description of the public sector attempting to assure that the people of Saskatchewan secured adequate returns on their resource and economic development from their enormously rich endowment of pink gold. At the same time, while it carefully describes the positions of those who favoured the innovation, it also attempts to understand and describes the positions of those who were opposed to this strategy.The book is of interest not only for its outlining of this inventive and strategic policy but also because of its clear description of the political and administrative tactics and administrative tools used to conceptualize, legislate and implement the policy. It likewise provides key evaluative measures.John Burton has been a public servant or consultant most of his life, but he also spent four years as an elected member of the national Parliament of Canada. He has a keen mind and a deft pen and adds enough personal material to make this book a real page turner.Saskatchewan was a poor province during most of its history, dependent on agriculture and a small amount of primary industry that suffered from severe ups and downs in prices and production. A Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) farmer-labour social democratic government was elected in 1944 and remained in power until 1964. It attempted to improve the provincial economy by investing in a sodium sulfate mine and steel, box and boot factories. The precedent had thus been set.The Allan Blakeney New Democratic Party (NDP), the successor to the CCF, was elected in 1971 and remained in office until 1982. It sought to diversify the economy through development of its rich natural resources, including oil, forestry, coal, uranium and potash. Potash production began in Saskatchewan in 1962. At the time his government was elected, Saskatchewan had 10 producing potash mines (Appendix B). Potash is a key ingredient in agricultural fertilizers; its price and production tends to move in cycles. The previous government had initiated a supply control system which disadvantaged Saskatchewan potash as provider of last resort. World demand was, however, increasing and windfall profits were being made and about to increase substantially.The Saskatchewan innovations of the early 1970s were a potash reserve tax (in effect, a land tax), a requirement that potash companies submit their financial statements (so that the government could understand the industry better), higher taxes on production, and some other measures. The province also provided the industry with a number of benefits, including infrastructure, research, special grants and loans, support in creating a marketing agency, etc. (page 83).The potash producers resisted these measures and, following the 1975 reelection of the government, brought court cases against the provincial government. …

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