REGINA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today reacted to the announcement by the provincial government that Saskatchewan's taxpayers will only be getting a fraction in return on their original investment in the Great Potato Project.

"Just as we feared, the taxpayers of Saskatchewan are going to get fried again by the provincial government's half-baked foray into the potato industry", says CTF Saskatchewan Director, Richard Truscott.

The government announced today that one of its Broderick potato storage facilities will be sold to Barrich Farms for $1.6 million and Pak-Wel Produce is expected to purchase the Lucky Lake facilities for $2.75 million. Negotiations are continuing with potential buyers for the other storage bins.

Besides covering operating losses for their potato venture, a previous Freedom of Information inquiry by the CTF revealed the government has also spent over $21 million on capital costs to build potato storage facilities in 1997 and 1998, although the final tab was likely much higher.

Truscott points out that if the potato venture's other facilities and plants are also sold at the rate of 30 to 50 cents on the dollar, the cost to taxpayers may be as much as $15 million on the concrete storage bins alone before all the bleeding is over. "Now that the precedent has been set, there's no way the government will get terms of sale more favorable than these current deals for their Soviet-style storage sheds," states Truscott.

Truscott says that the potato fiasco reinforces the need for the Crowns to be more accountable and the danger of mixing politics and business development. "The most effective economic development policy is lower taxes and less politics - plain and simple."

"The provincial government made a wrong turn when it tried to be a player in the potato industry, instead of focusing on creating a good business and tax environment for all farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs. Our government should leave farming to farmers," concludes Truscott.