Industry Minister Tony Clement announced on November 3 that our government would refuse BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover of PotashCorp. It was not apparent to Minister Clement that the deal would result in a net benefit to Canadians, something required under the Investment Canada Act.

The Act also mandates a 30 day appeal process as part of the application. It also requires that Public Office Holders, such as myself, cannot be seen to influence the approval process by our public commentary during the application process and the current appeal stage. Some have criticized this silence, but we are bound by the law. If we were to break that law, those same people would be the first to attack. Anyone who wants to know more about potash can read the Conference Board report at http://www.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?mediaId=1245&PN=Shared.

We have a very strong Saskatchewan caucus of thirteen MPs and three Senators, all of which have been working hard behind the scenes to represent the interests of our province. While some commentators want nothing more than to see public division in our caucus, that’s not how we operate. Apparently they think that if we aren’t fighting with each other publicly, then we must not be doing our job. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have 13 strong personalities, with very different perceptions and histories. Each person adds to a more complete understanding of issues. We work well together and we know that our strength is in working together and presenting a unified front. When it’s time for action, we come to consensus and stand behind our decision and each other. Working this way has benefitted our province.

In addition to potash, we’re addressing other issues, including some with the Canadian Wheat Board. Recently, one of the CWB directors running for re-election asserted that the government had sat on a wheat price adjustment request for two months. This is not true. He knows that the CWB submitted a request the first week of September, but withdrew it themselves. They made a subsequent request September 30. Requests take 6-8 weeks to process and so it is in the midst of being approved. The strange thing is that, if the CWB wanted to, they could have let their first request go through and made a second one later.

To ease the current situation, the Government introduced Bill C-27 to reform the CWB director elections and to speed up the approval process for pool payments. In some cases, it would take only half the time it currently does. We can only hope the Opposition will do the right thing and support this bill so farmers will get paid faster.

We also continue our efforts to make Canada safer. Newly introduced legislation will increase prison sentences for sexual offenses against children. Our government has also sent a letter to Craigslist to ask that they remove erotic services ads from their Canadian websites. We are concerned these ads may be facilitating serious criminal offenses such as child prostitution and trafficking in persons. The protection of Canadians, especially children, remains a priority.