Government of Sask. claims procurement is 90% provincial, 99% Canadian, amid trade war

The Saskatchewan Legislative Building in front of Walter Scott Memorial in Regina on Thursday, October 24, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

The province says numbers don’t lie when it comes to its support of Saskatchewan and Canadian businesses in the midst of the ongoing trade war with the United States.

In an announcement Thursday, the province reported that over the past five years, 99 per cent of government contracts have been awarded to Canadian companies – 90 per cent of which are in Saskatchewan.

“Our government will always put Saskatchewan people and Saskatchewan companies first,” SaskBuilds and Procurement Minister David Marit said in a news release. “With the vast majority of our procurement going to local businesses, we will continue to support local contractors and industries during this turbulent time.”

The government noted that when Saskatchewan firms bid, that number has jumped as high as 95 per cent.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

During the 2024-25 construction season, a total of 96 per cent of the value of awarded contracts went to Saskatchewan companies.

The province says the track record of Crown corporations is also in line with expectations – with $1.2 billion or 75 per cent of procurements going to Saskatchewan suppliers over the first three quarters of 2024-25.

Over the same period, about three per cent of procurement came from the U.S.

Highlighting previous announcements, the province also said that $43 million worth of VLTs and slot machines that were set to be procured from the U.S. will now be ordered through a Canadian subsidiary of a multi-national corporation that will assemble the machines in Mexico using Canadian, Mexican and Asian components.

Lotteries and Gambling Saskatchewan has spent $17.7 million so far in the effort.

The SaskPower’s plan to procure 10,000 tons of steel from Evraz Regina was also highlighted.

The province demonstrating its commitment to procuring locally comes as it faces repeated attacks from the NDP Opposition on the subject.

The province extending its contract with LifeLabs, now owned by an American company, has repeatedly come under fire.

Tech contracts to U.S. firms for campsite bookings and hunting and fishing licenses sales has also been criticized in recent weeks.

The province has maintained that in those specific cases – a Canadian firm was not available, or the decision came too late to cancel the contracts.