Crown corporations prioritize purchasing Sask. made steel amid U.S. tariffs

WATCH: The provincial government is taking steps to support Saskatchewan’s steel industry in the face of international tariffs. Sierra D’Souza Butts explains.

The provincial government says it is prioritizing supporting Saskatchewan’s steel industry through Crown corporation procurement.

According to a news release from the province, thousands of pounds of steel and more than 100 kilometres of pipe were recently purchased from Evraz Steel in Regina

“SaskPower has negotiated a purchase of up to 10,000 tons of steel from Evraz, or the equivalent of three-years' worth of steel for the Crown, which is used for the construction of transmission structures and other infrastructure that is critical to maintain Saskatchewan’s power grid,” the province said in the release.

Crown Corporation Investments Minister Jeremy Harrison said the province will continue to support Saskatchewan’s interests with pragmatic and sensible solutions that protect jobs, residents and the economy.

“By prioritizing the purchasing of local steel for SaskPower and SaskEnergy infrastructure projects, we are helping to keep over 400 hardworking Saskatchewan people on the job right here in Regina,” Harrison said in the release.

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Don Hunter, senior vice president with Evraz, said the province’s investment will help secure employment in Saskatchewan and across the country.

“The commitment we’re seeing today from the provincial government is a strong signal that the Saskatchewan government recognizes the importance for domestic steel manufacturing,” he shared.

“Not only for the thousands of workers who depend on it, but for the broader economy and the benefits from a strong and resilient supply chain.”

At a Tuesday news conference, Harrison said that most Crown procurements are from within Canada and only three per cent is international.

“We’ve been working at this hard for a long time to make sure that we are maximizing as much as we possibly can Canadian content and even more Saskatchewan content in our Crown procurements,” he said.

Harrison added that he has been pushing for incentives for Saskatchewan companies as part of the provincial government’s “internal trade agreements.”

“I have insisted on there being exemptions for procurement provisions such that our Crowns can procure from Saskatchewan companies, over other provinces even. That’s been something we’ve worked really hard on and it’s something that we’ve had a pretty high degree of success on,” Harrison said.

“Our preference is always to procure first from Saskatchewan, second from Canada, and only if we have no other options to procure from outside of the country,” he added.

The province added that a collaboration with Evraz, SaskPower, and steel structure fabricators Brandt and JNE Welding - a Saskatchewan-based solution will support the economy and also ensure reliable power for residents and businesses.

“As steelworkers we’ve been lobbying [with] both the provincial government and the Crown investment corporation for a couple years now,” Mike Day, president of USW Local 5890 said.

“Anytime we can get or keep our people working, that is what we want. We need more talks like this, at every government level, to get more infrastructure built,” Day added.

SaskEnergy has also been using Evraz for product that will be part of a natural gas power plant east of Saskatoon.

“Currently, Evraz is working on an order from SaskEnergy which purchased 125 kilometres of steel pipe through Gateway Tubulars LTD. for the Aspen Power Station project, a new 370-megawatt natural gas power plant near Lanigan. SaskEnergy has procured $79 million from EVRAZ directly or through supplier agreements since 2019.

Through the first three-quarters of the province’s 2024-25 fiscal year, the Crown sector has awarded $1.2 billion to Saskatchewan suppliers, $92 million of that to Indigenous companies, according to the release.