The decision is in and BHP Billiton is out. At least for the next thirty days as Industry Minister Tony Clement has indicated to give BHP an opportunity to tweak its offer. I suppose this so-called tweaking is akin to sweetening the pot and therein lies the rub. This issue will now be debated for another month and then who knows what decision the federal governmnent may come to on this unprecedented issue.
When I was first elected in 1975 to the Saskatchewan legislature the big issue was Allan Blakeney's nationalization of the potash industry. Saskatchewan's Premier is beginning to sound a bit like Allan Blakeney when Wall announced that the potash resource doesn't belong to one company, it belongs to the people of Saskatchewan. This observation was also reported in the Calgary Beacon by Murray Dobbin.
It's a good fight regardless of what side of the issue you stand. Of course, you could stay out of the fight and take no position like Saskatchewan's 13 conservative MP's. At least Premier Brad Wall took a position on the issue. At this point, we are not yet exactly sure where the federal government stands given they have not slammed the door on BHP Billiton, which I understand is a requirement under the Investment Canada Act. As it stands we still don't have a final and binding decision by the federal government. I expect everyone will climb back in the ring tomorrow and continue to fight this out until a decision is final.
Check out the news report in the Montreal Gazette captioned; "BHP's potash Bid Bounced" for more information on this controversial issue.
