Mandryk: Using GTH to up costs of Costco land on brand for Sask. Party

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The biggest political problem in the Queen City right now isn’t a debate at the legislature over whether Saskatchewan should remain in Canada or one at Regina City Hall over adding fluoride to the drinking water.

(Yes, folks. Fluoride is still an issue in Regina … where 2025 can sometimes be confused with 1955.)

So, what, then, is the latest political fiasco in Regina? Well, it’s over whether the city or the Saskatchewan Party government gets to spend more of our tax dollars to subsidize Regina’s second Costco. Gulp.

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Nothing says government efficiency like a bidding war between two levels of government over who gets to subsidize a giant American retail outlet … or, in the case of Costco, a wholesale one.

In fairness, the city likely only bears about 10 per cent of the responsibility for this ridiculousness  … even if it’s the city taxpayers who now have to pay an extra $6.78 million to keep Regina’s second Costco within city limits instead of seeing it moved to the Global Transportation Hub (GTH).

This probably doesn’t make this stupidity any more digestible for Regina property owners already facing massive increases in current property tax bills due by the end of next month. (That said, given the potential looming costs related to departures in the Regina city manager’s office, the city likely deserves no quarter these days.)

So, what’s happened here?

Well, Regina city council is now being forced to offer Costco a more lucrative multimillion-dollar incentive to build its second Regina-area box store in the Westerra neighbourhood, as had been initially planned.

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The popular retailer, best known for its cheap hotdogs and great deals on large-item purchases, recently cancelled a land purchase agreement with Forster Harvard Development to build its gas bar/store on west Dewdney Avenue.

Evidently, Costco found an “alternative site” outside the city with lower development costs. That “alternative site” happened to be the provincial-government-owned GTH.

Now, there are a couple things about the GTH worth noting.

First, the GTH is its own jurisdiction, separate from either the Rural Municipality of Sherwood or the City of Regina … sort of an industrial equivalent to the Vatican City in Rome. (Maybe it should be where the Sask. Party chooses the next successor to Premier Scott Moe, signified with a puff of white smoke.)

As such, it isn’t as burdened with the same sewer, water and infrastructure costs as businesses located in the city. But that wasn’t supposed to ever be a problem.

You see, the GTH was never supposed to be a holy enclave for retail business. According to its mandate, the GTH exists “to plan, develop, construct, operate, manage, and promote a dedicated transportation logistics park in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.”

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Hmm? Nothing about getting into retail business and screwing over Regina taxpayers there. In fact, this Sask. Party government is supposedly mortified by any involvement in retail. Didn’t we sell off government-owned retail liquor stores?

Second, this is just the latest development at the GTH that — all too often — has been the centre of questionable land transactions. The GTH is best known for what former NDP leader Cam Broten famously described as “ripping off nuns” on the land they owned.

In the first GTH land transaction, a convent sold land at a lower price to speculators with close political and/or business ties to former economic development minister Bill Boyd or the Sask. Party; the speculators then flipped the GTH land before selling it to SaskPower at a much higher price.

Now, to this latest GTH-involved deal.

As magical and mysterious as those land flips themselves, Costco was suddenly given reason to think it had a cheaper alternative at the GTH that isn’t even supposed to have retail businesses.

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One surely can’t blame Costco for seeking out the best deal possible. It’s what it’s good at and why we all shop there. Nor can one fault Forster Harvard Developments for demanding a competitive bid … or, the city for providing it.

The source of this problem is clear. It’s the GTH and the Sask. Party government.

Perhaps Regina property tax owners should start sending them bills for property tax increases.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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