The provincial government has unveiled a strategy to increase business investment to further advance the goal of reaching $16 billion in private capital investment annually. Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison told a business crowd that private capital investment in Saskatchewan rose by nearly 25 per cent last year and is forecast to increase by over 14 per cent this year, and the goal is that the new Investment Attraction Strategy will help build on that momentum.
New and expanded tax incentives are included. A couple of the new incentives are a 25 per cent tax credit to support commercialization projects for critical minerals and a 15 per cent tax credit for new critical minerals processing investment. The Government of Saskatchewan also unveiled a new investment website so prospective businesses can have a look at what Saskatchewan has to offer. You can click here for the link to the new website.
At the announcement, BHP’s Potash Asset President, Karina Gistelinck noted that businesses have a choice about where they want to invest. She stated that capital is global and will float to jurisdictions that provide high-quality resources, a strong talent pool, and stable and attractive fiscal and regulatory settings, and these are all things that Saskatchewan has.
“This is what gave us the confidence to make BHP’s single largest investment in the company’s history with the approval of Jansen Stage 1 and then double down, less than two years later on that investment, with the recent approval of Jansen 2. In total, BHP has invested more than $14 billion in the Jansen project.”
Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce CEO Prabha Ramaswamy stressed that this province has what the world needs – the largest share of cropland in Canada with 60 million hectares, the second largest producer of oil in Canada , the largest producer of potash in the world and the province is a leading global producer of uranium. “The opportunities for investment in our province are abundant and this investment strategy will serve as a catalyst to stimulate investments from within the province, attract investments from outside the province and attract businesses from outside the province to boost economic growth here at home.”