As governments weigh the costs and benefits of BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover bid of Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the two companies jockey for position in the hearts and minds of Saskatchewan residents.
Both companies have a history of investing in the communities in which they do business, but the potential takeover appears to have given new life to their community projects.
Just one day after BHP Billiton took over sponsorship of the annual Enchanted Forest light show, at $100,000 a year for three years, PotashCorp announced Tuesday a $5-million sponsorship to revamp Kinsmen Park.
Wayne Brownlee, chief financial officer of PotashCorp, denies any connection in the timing of the announcement.
"It has no connection to anything BHP is doing in town," he said. "With no disrespect to anybody, the magnitude of this was much larger."
Discussions began for the park sponsorship five years ago at a dinner between PotashCorp president Bill Doyle and Mayor Don Atchison, he said.
"This has been a long time coming. It’s a project we’re attached to and it’s part of our ongoing commitment to the province."
Other recent funding commitments, such as an offer to match donations made to the Saskatoon Friendship Inn during the month of September and $500,000 to build a walking track at the new St. Mary Community School currently under construction were also in the works long before the bid began, said Brownlee.
But to unwittingly follow BHP Billiton’s sponsorship announcement with its own the following day would be an incredible coincidence, says Don Gilchrist, economics department head at the University of Saskatchewan.
"The timing is just too good to be true. Those corporations normally do give something back, but even so."
Gilchrist is not convinced BHP Billiton’s sponsorship of the Enchanted Forest light show has as much to do with the bid to take over PotashCorp as it does with the company’s ongoing efforts to establish a local presence.
"I would expect their involvement in this kind of thing to be proportional to their presence in this province. I think BHP is clearly in it for the long haul."
BHP Billiton has been trying to raise its profile in Saskatchewan recently. A few of those efforts include sponsoring the world junior hockey championships last winter and taking over a new building in downtown Saskatoon for its local office, with the stated goal of hiring up to 200 staff.
Bronwyn Wilkinson, spokesperson for BHP Billiton, said supporting community programs is just the way the company does business.
"BHP Billiton doesn’t support community programs to buy favours. We support community programs to be part of the community. We spend one per cent of pre-tax profits on community programs wherever we operate. Whatever happens with the PCS offer, we see us as having a long-term presence in Saskatchewan."
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