A scoop loader with a bucket full of low-grade uranium at the Cameco McArthur River uranium mine site in northern SaskatchewanDave Stobbe/Reuters
Saskatchewan politicians are working to ease foreign ownership restrictions on uranium mines in the province as part of a push to repair damage done by the blocked sale of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.
After an aggressive campaign to stop Australian miner BHP Billiton Ltd. from buying Saskatoon-based Potash Corp., Premier Brad Wall is sending a different message as he throws his support behind proposed federal legislation that would allow foreign buyers to take a controlling stake in Saskatchewan's rich uranium mines.
"Do we welcome foreign investment in terms of our uranium industry? Yes, we do. Would we want to see the reserves, the vast reserves of uranium in our province, come under foreign control? No," Mr. Wall said in the legislature recently in support of a federal private member's bill sponsored by Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brad Trost.
The bill, introduced a year ago, is a long way from being passed, but is gaining attention amid fallout from the derailed potash deal as to which Canadian resources are open to foreign investors.
Some see Saskatchewan's position on uranium as inconsistent with its stand against BHP buying Potash Corp., the producer of what many view as a strategic resource used to help boost crop production worldwide.
Uranium, used to feed the global rise in nuclear power generation, is also considered strategic and, like potash, is plentiful in the province.
"Like potash, uranium is a strategic resource, but that doesn't mean we don't want any foreign investment in uranium," Kathy Young, the Saskatchewan government's executive director of communications said Tuesday.
Saskatchewan argues that easing of ownership restrictions on uranium would result in millions of dollars of investment and jobs, and believes that French nuclear giant Areva is one player interested in investing more in the province.
Foreign ownership of Saskatchewan uranium mines is currently capped at 49 per cent, but that would rise under the private member's bill. Neither the proposed legislation nor Premier Wall is calling for a change to the current 25-per-cent foreign ownership limit on Saskatoon-based uranium giant Cameco Corp. , which produces about 16 per cent of the world's uranium.
A Cameco spokesman said Tuesday that the company is not opposed to an increase in foreign ownership in Canada's uranium industry, but wants Canada to have reciprocal rights for Canadian companies to invest in the uranium assets of other countries.
Mr. Trost acknowledged his proposal is far from becoming law, but hopes the potash debate might move it forward more quickly.
"One could argue that - in a way to progressively demonstrate to foreign investors that, 'yes we are open for business' - this change could be made," the MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt said in an interview Tuesday.
While his bill would allow majority foreign ownership in Canadian uranium mines, such instances would still need to be reviewed by the minister of defence to consider national security implications.
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale noted "a wee bit of inconsistency" for Mr. Trost and Mr. Wall after the push against BHP's foreign takeover. "If you say potash is a strategic resource, you have to say that uranium is at least as strategic, and possibly more so [given its use in nuclear weapons]" said the Liberal Deputy Leader, the only opposition MP from Saskatchewan.
Mr. Goodale said any decision to ease foreign-ownership restrictions would have to be done gradually, and on a reciprocal basis so that Cameco could invest in uranium reserves of the country given the same right in Canada. But he added that there is no clear need for a change.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said.
Editors note: This story clarifies an earlier online and print version regarding Cameco Corp.'s position on increased foreign ownership in Canada's uranium industry.