REGINA: "There's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that the Crown profits are not as high as we thought. The bad news is that they are still making billions in excess profits on the back of Saskatchewan ratepayers," says Richard Truscott, Saskatchewan Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, about revisions to a recent CTF commissioned report on profiteering by Crown utilities.

Report author Isabel Anderson, a former University of Saskatchewan economist, revised the figures in the report on Saskatchewan Crown Profits in light of recent discussions with the Provincial Auditor.

"The Provincial Auditor's feedback improves the accuracy of our report, and confirms our conclusions that the Crowns are overcharging us, that utility bills are regressive taxation, and that the Crowns domination is damaging the provincial economy," says Truscott.

Truscott says that the Auditor's input reinforces the need for the Crowns to be more accountable and the government's reporting process for the Crowns more transparent. "We have struggled to quantify something that should be common knowledge," says Truscott. "Saskatchewan taxpayers shouldn't have to engage in months of detective work to unearth financial information about what the government is doing with the Crowns."

Based on the revisions, the Crowns have recorded profits of almost $500 million this year, not $700 million as was first reported. The Crowns have provided the government with $3.3 billion in Crown profits over the seven years from the beginning of 1991 to the end of 1997 (not $4.9 billion as first reported), and $2.5 billion of it in the four years from 1994 to 1997 (not $3.9 billion).

These profits are equivalent to a 48% average annual rate of return over seven years on the government's equity investment in the Crowns (not 71%), and a 64% average annual rate of return over the last four years (not 101%). By comparison, the mean rate of return from 1991-1997 for the Royal Bank was 21% and 44% for TD. From 1994-1997 it was 29% for the Royal Bank and 55% for TD.

Even with the downward revision in Crown profits, "The Crown profiteers are clearly outperforming the super-profitable Big Banks," says Truscott.

The excess profit is equivalent to about $1,990 a year, on average, or $158 a month, for a family of four living in the province for the seven years covered in the study (not $2,800 a year and $233 a month, as first reported), and $2,500 a year, or $208 a month for the same family over the last four years (not $3,970 a year and $331 a month).

"This profiteering would not be tolerated if the government's reporting of what it gets from the Crowns was transparent," says Truscott. "The government is over-taxing the people of Saskatchewan through their utility bills. The shell-game the government is playing with Crown profits must come to an end."