The provincial government says the sale of STC earned about $29 million.
Joe Hargrave, the minister for Saskatchewan Transportation Company, confirmed the number Wednesday, but said the government will not release a breakdown of what each asset sold for. He said the province is bound by privacy agreements with the buyers.
"Rest assured, we got the very best value for the assets,” Hargrave told reporters at a news conference in the morning. “It was a good process, an open and transparent process. There were a number of people that submitted bids on it. There were a number of companies contacted throughout North America."
The most expensive asset in the sale was the STC depot in Regina, which was sold to the city for $16.25 million.
The fleet of more than 40 buses was sold to a liquidation company in Ontario. While he would have liked to sell the buses to a Saskatchewan buyer, Hargrave said the bid was too good to pass up.
“They were, by far, the highest value of all the people that bid,” he said. “We feel that we got value for the people of Saskatchewan.”
But the Opposition said it doesn’t think the government is looking at the sale numbers objectively. It’s asking the provincial auditor to analyze the sale price, along with other costs related to the shutdown.
“These are assets that the people of Saskatchewan own,” said NDP MLA Carla Beck. “They deserve to know that they got good value for those assets.”
The government says the appraised value of the STC was $25.6 million.
Editor’s note: The Saskatchewan government initially stated Wednesday morning the sale of STC earned $25 million, but a correction issued later in the day stated the number was $29 million.
