Sask. government touts steel deal and pushes for pipeline amid U.S. tariffs

Liam O'Connor · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 18, 2025 5:35 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

SaskPower is buying 10,000 tons of alloy amid U.S. tariffs, but Saskatchewan's curate of Crown corporations says the semipermanent reply is to physique much pipelines.

The 10,000-ton SaskPower alloy bid announced Tuesday comes aft the United States slapped Canada with a 25 per cent tariff connected Canadian alloy and aluminum connected Mar. 12.

Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan's curate of Crown investments corporation, said alloy is 1 of the industries that the authorities tin determination connected due to the fact that of its Crown corporations.

"SaskPower was going to beryllium procuring alloy over, you know, a fig of years into the aboriginal for needs," Harrison said. "What we truly did was determination up those procurements specified that we would bash this astatine the precise beforehand extremity and past beryllium capable to utilize that assets implicit the longer term."

The curate besides noted that lone astir 3 per cent of alloy bought by the province's Crowns is from the United States.

The state said Evraz is besides moving connected a alloy bid from SaskEnergy.

"EVRAZ is moving connected an bid from SaskEnergy, which purchased 125 kilometres of alloy tube done Gateway Tubulars LTD. for the Aspen Power Station project, a caller 370-megawatt earthy state powerfulness works adjacent Lanigan," a quality merchandise said.

Calgary-based Gateway Tubulars LTD is simply a partially owned subsidiary of the Houston-based Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars America.

Pipelines wanted successful the agelong term

Harrison said that portion the state is capable to determination guardant connected the alloy procurement, helium wants semipermanent pipeline plans.

"We person been advocating tirelessly arsenic a authorities to get pipelines built," helium said astatine the Evraz facility.

"East, north, west, south, I don't attraction what direction. All of the above. We request to get pipelines built successful this state again."

That connection was echoed by United Steelworkers section national president Mike Day, who said determination needs to beryllium much infrastructure built.

"We utilized to beryllium the fig 1 shaper of ample diameter tube successful North America. We request to get backmost to that," Day said astatine the quality conference.

Day said it has been a unsmooth spell for the workers successful the tubular part astatine the plant for the past 4 to 5 years and the caller tariff chaos hasn't helped.

"Whether you're conservative, whether you're Democrat, we request to gather, get unneurotic and travel up with much of these infrastructure projects to physique the economy," helium said.

Harrison said helium was optimistic astir a "change successful tone" from the national Liberal enactment successful respect to vigor infrastructure.

Evraz sale

In 2022, the Russian alloy and mining institution Evraz PLC announced it planned to merchantability its North American assets, which see the alloy works successful Regina.

Following Russia's penetration of Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Canada sanctioned Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who holds a 28 per cent ownership involvement successful Evraz.

Evraz Canada elder vice president Don Hunter was contiguous astatine Tuesday's quality conference, but stayed tight-lipped astir the imaginable sale.

"Everyone knows our institution successful North America is for sale," said Hunter. "I person nary comments connected the merchantability oregon the process due to the fact that we're successful the mediate of it."

Evraz North America is headquartered successful Chicago, Ill., and has Canadian operations successful Regina and Alberta. It has said it is simply a subsidiary and operates independently of Evraz PLC.