WHEREAS SaskPower is the registered owner and lessee of approximately 47,000 acres of land within the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5 (RM), most of which is not directly used for the extraction of coal and typically is marginal or substandard land that is leased out for grazing and forage production to local area ranchers.

WHEREAS pursuant to Section 4 of The Power Corporation Act (the Act) of Saskatchewan, SaskPower “…shall be exempt from taxation of whatever nature and description.” on its real property although some property is eligible for a payment to the RM of a minimal “grant in lieu” (GIL) of taxes through the Crown Investments Corporation (CIC) policy.

WHEREAS through the above noted policy, land acquired with the “intent” to be used for coal mining is not eligible for GIL and as a result of both the exemptions created through legislation and the policy, the RM is losing an estimated $1,400,000 in annual tax revenue based on the approximate assessment of the lands owned by SaskPower within the RM.

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby SaskPower to have The Power Corporation Act and the policy amended or repealed, to the extent necessary, to allow the RM the ability to tax and/or receive GIL for the real property owned by SaskPower within the RM, particularly as it relates to current real property not utilized for the mining of coal.