The Frontier Centre for Public Policy today released a study about the privatization of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS). The report was co-authored by Dr. Mark Moore and Dr. Aidan Vining, both at the Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, BC.
The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan was established in 1975, and continued to operate as a Crown Corporation until Grant Devine’s PC government sold a majority of shares in 1989 and 1991. The privatization of this company was the largest provincial privatization project in Canadian history.
Potash is found in commercial quantities in only a few places in the world, and Saskatchewan is a major source of the mineral. Privatization resulted in extraordinary gains for PCS shareholders, but the number shares owned by Saskatchewan residents is unknown. The study also examined the PCS’s market share, and how privatization increased PCS’s profitability. With privatization, the potential for increased market power occurred.
Read the entire paper here: PS192_PrivPotashSK_CF1
