Jeremy Harrison has a new role in the provincial cabinet, and he’s using the opportunity to rejuvenate Saskatchewan’s power productivity. Following the Meadow Lake MLA’s re-election last fall, Harrison – who for several years served as the minister of trade and export development – was given a new portfolio, one he said comes with a whole new level of responsibility. “My new title is minister of Crown Investments Corporation and minister responsible for SaskPower, SaskTel, SaskEnergy, SGI, SaskWater, and I have the Lotteries and Gaming portfolio as well,” Harrison told Northern Pride. “On the Crown side, there are about 14,000 employees – more than there is on the executive government side of the equation, so it’s a very big portfolio and there’s a lot of responsibility that goes along with that. It’s been very interesting and, while I have been Lotteries and Gaming minister before, the actual commercial Crowns are all things I have not been responsible for before.” And, although still new to the role, Harrison said he has taken a very assertive direction at SaskPower in terms of what the future of the province’s power generation mix is going to resemble going forward.
“That’s a big focus of what I have been working on in the last three months,” Harrison said. “The direction I have given to SaskPower is, going forward – and this really came out of the election campaign where we heard the number one concern was affordability – the two lenses we will be looking at our future power generation mix through are going to be reliability and affordability. We want to make sure we are producing power at the lowest possible cost for our customers, and also to have a reliable power generation system going forward.” This, Harrison continued, meant taking a hard look at the assets the province has right now. “Part of the direction I also gave SaskPower is we are going to look at both reliability and affordability with no regard to the federal government which has no standing in this discussion, constitutionally or legally,” Harrison noted. “I truly could care less what Steven Guilbeault, Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney or Jonathan Wilkinson have to say about power generation in Saskatchewan because they have no standing. They have no say in any of this. Based on all of that, we are taking a very hard look at the refurbishment of the existing coal fire plants we have here in the province.”
Recently, Harrison toured these plants, including Boundary Dam in Estevan, Shand Power Station near Estevan and Poplar River near Coronach, SK. “We are taking a very hard look at refurbishing and extending the lives of these plants as part of bridging to nuclear, which I truly see as the future of power generation,” Harrison added. “It’s not going to happen right now, though. There is a long process for nuclear, and the question is how do we bridge to the future? A big part of that is extending the life of and refurbishing our existing coal fire plants, along with natural gas, biomass – which we know well in Meadow Lake – and wind and solar. It’s an all-of-the-above approach.”
Harrison said not only does refocusing efforts on coal fire plants mean significant things for power generation in Saskatchewan, it also secures a number of jobs and strengthens communities like Estevan and Coronach for many years to come. “A community like Coronach is really based on the power plant and coal mining that goes along with that,” he said. “It’s a significant industry – it’s the main industry. It’s also a significant part of the Estevan economy. And, these are good folks. I had the chance to meet with the employees at all of these facilities. We had really good conversations and these are really good people who, because of the federal government’s demonization of coal, have felt slighted by the Government of Canada. I assured them how much we appreciate what they are doing at the provincial level and we envision there being a long-term future for coal here in Saskatchewan.”
The province plans to run Shand until its end of life, which would be in 2042, and Boundary Dam for a similar length of time. “For thousands of people, this is a lifechanging thing,” Harrison said. “Trudeau and all these guys would shut these places down tomorrow if they could but we won’t let them.” As for his portfolio as a whole, in spite of his years of experience at the provincial level, Harrison said it has brought with it a learning experience. “It’s been a great opportunity to learn about the power business, the insurance business, all of these things,” he said. “I had a basic grounding in all these things, but it is a little different when you’re the person running them. Thankfully, I work with a great team – a very experienced crew I have a great degree of trust in. I’m enjoying it and this is an opportunity to make a real difference for everybody in the province.”
In closing, Harrison said his latest efforts would not be possible without the support of the people of Meadow Lake and area. “All of this is only possible because of the folks in Meadow Lake,” he said. “I am very grateful to my friends, family and the voters of Meadow Lake who allow me to do this job. I really work hard every day to make a positive difference for them.”