Saskatchewan Media Asleep at the Switch

The Brad and Bill Show

I don't know what it is for sure but, either the Saskatchewan media is inept, their budgets don't allow for any investigative reporting or they just take everything Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall tells them, at face value.

Wall went to bat to save the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan's (PCS) corporate ass after BHP Billiton tried a hostile take over late last year. Wall worked hard to convince Saskatchewan citizens that BHP was a foreign takeover of a Saskatchewan corporation despite the fact that the PCS headquarters along with CEO Bill Doyle was in Chicago. The provincial government pulled out all the stops to pressure the Harper government to scotch the deal and in the end Industry Minister,Tony Clement caved to pressure and did just that.

It was during the BHP dust-up that PCS made its famous "Pledge to Saskatchewan ." Doyle said that perhaps they had been remiss, he'd move back to Saskatoon and that a majority of the Board would live in the province, and that they would become better corporate citizens, more involved in the community, blah, blah blah...

A few weeks ago Brad and Bill had a cozy media event where they patted each other on the back, praised each others work and reaffirmed that PCS was a true green Saskatchewan company.

Things however are not quite what they seem. When Doyle was first appointed to be the  corporation's CEO he did move to Saskatoon. He built a large six bedroom house, with seven bathrooms  and a wine cellar and multi-level terraces leading down to the South Saskatchewan River. A few years later he decamped to where the real PCS head office is located, Chicago. Better night life I'm told.

Now he has "moved back" to a 1000 square foot condo in a building attached to the Saskatoon Radission Hotel. PCS pays the taxes on the place and Doyle pays the rest which I guess means the condo fees, from the almost $10 million he get paid each year.

Apparently everyone is happy now. Brad Wall got some much needed political points.  PCS got to keep on with its sweet royalty deal and the Saskatchewan people can go back to sleep.

I don't expect much more. I guess we'll see how the rest of the "pledge" all works over the next few months but I pretty much think, what we see is what we get.

The thing is, it took Toronto's Globe & Mail to tell me that.