By Jarrett Crowe

Sask NDP candidate wants new royalty scheme

Oct 16, 2012 | 6:55 AM

Provincial NDP leadership candidate Erin Weir has Prince Albert on his priority list.

Weir was in Prince Albert on Monday. He spoke about the importance of getting a second bridge across the North Saskatchewan River in the city.

“I think we need to recognize that it’s important to Prince Albert and also to provide access to northern Saskatchewan. It should be a major provincial priority,” he said.

Weir said he is bringing an economic background to the NDP leadership race and his goal is to bring in more revenues and profits to the province.

He said one tactic is to address loopholes in the natural resources royalty schemes. He said the province would be able have more funds, which can be used to help pay for new projects, such as the bridge.

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“I’ve talked very specifically about how we could make more money through the corporate tax system, through the potash production tax system, and from oil and uranium royalties by closing loopholes,” he said.

“That gives me a way to pay for a new bridge rather than just talking about it.”

Weir said one of the loopholes he would like to address is the amount of money companies can write off on their investments in the province.

“In the potash production tax system, there’s a provision that allows potash companies to write off 120 per cent of the investment they make, so they actually get to write off more than they make,” he said.

“I think that’s fine to let companies write off every dollar they actually do invest in Saskatchewan, so I would scale back that deduction from 120 per cent to 100 per cent, which I believe would be much more fair.”

Weir resides in Regina but has family history in Prince Albert he said. His great grandfather, Bob Gooding, was the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidate against John Diefenbaker in 1957.

His grandfather, Mike Kalmakoff, was the general manager of the Timber Board during the Tommy Douglas government and founding president of the Prince Albert Community Clinic.

The Saskatchewan NDP leadership vote will be held next spring during their provincial convention on March 9, 2013.

jcrowe@rawlco.com

On Twitter: @JarrettCrowe