“They have been making an attempt to barter with us on one hand and courting one other firm then again,” stated Shercom CEO Mike Richards.
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Shercom’s CEO says the corporate wasn’t in search of a sweetheart deal, however for transparency from the provincial stewardship program they are saying minimize them out with out rationalization.
“It’s the transparency, the secretiveness of what occurred and why it occurred the best way it did,” Mike Richards lamented in an interview Monday.
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The Saskatoon-based tire processor shut down its recycling arm in April 2023 after Tire Stewardship Saskatchewan (TSS) awarded a contract to U.S. firm Crumb Rubber Manufacturing (CRM) in 2022 to open a southern facility in Moose Jaw.
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Richards stated that in 2021, TSS executives indicated a request for proposals (RFP) issued on the time was “for data gathering functions solely,” as the 2 entities renegotiated a contract that expired the 12 months prior. However Shercom was shocked when the RFP appeared to hunt a second operator who might “reduce overlap” with present providers.
“They have been making an attempt to barter with us on one hand and courting one other firm then again,” he stated. “I’d be involved as to why, as a company that’s an arm of the federal government, they’re appearing in such a means.”
The wording of the RFP, awarded to CRM the next 12 months, excluded Shercom from bidding, in keeping with the corporate’s authorized counsel, which says an RFP for a brand new northern operator issued in 2023 places the corporate in the identical spot as two years in the past.
The addition of a southern operator break up the market in half, a transfer Richards stated was an “unneeded” intervention within the free market, and a transfer business specialists additionally disagreed with.
Traditionally, Saskatchewan has not had sufficient quantity to help two recycling processors efficiently, with 9 different firms folding since 1998. Richards stated TSS nonetheless has not supplied a report the group beforehand contracted that purportedly reveals the necessity for added operations within the province and was the impetus for the 2021 RFP.
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The report was absolutely redacted by the Ministry of Surroundings when delivered by way of a freedom of knowledge request to TSS.
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TSS CEO Stevyn Arnt declined an interview with the Chief-Put up, however did reply to an inventory of emailed questions on behalf of the group.
On the choice so as to add a second facility, he stated the intention was to usher in “new applied sciences” to spice up value-added processing and minimize the environmental influence of driving tires throughout the province to be processed.
“We consider that with the lower in logistics prices, we might have the ability to direct these funds to assist clear up the variety of legacy tire piles that exist on farms and in communities,” he wrote.
This system recycled greater than 25,000 metric tonnes, or 25 million kilograms, of scrap tires in 2022 in comparison with an annual common of 21,000 to 23,000 metric tonnes.
“We achieved a restoration charge of 79 per cent, which signifies that we’re recycling 4 out of each 5 tires bought within the province,” stated Arnt, including 2024 is on monitor to hit 97 per cent.
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Richards says Shercom might have dealt with that capability and that this wasn’t a problem in contract negotiations.
His business contacts have since informed him CRM ships its uncooked materials out of province to Calgary, whereas Shercom buys the identical sources from Alberta, Ontario and B.C. to proceed manufacturing its front-end merchandise.
Between when Shercom idled its plant in Might 2023 and CRM’s facility in Moose Jaw opened in July, Arnt additionally confirmed a “Restricted variety of scrap tires” have been exported out-of-province for processing. Brief-term storage piles have been additionally used.
Since then, all tires have been processed in-province, in keeping with the ministry.
“We have been retaining all the things in Saskatchewan,” Richards stated, including “the environmental influence alone” of this new actuality undercuts TSS’s arguments for reducing freight emissions.
The bigger situation is a murky RFP course of and “the redacted paperwork that got here again out of it,” stated Saskatchewan NDP Chief Carla Beck on Monday. “And, once more, a minister unwilling to reply questions after which pointing fingers elsewhere.”
An NDP authorities would adhere to a Saskatchewan-first procurement coverage if elected, to “prioritize most worth” of public contracts, she stated.
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“I’m not right here to combat for jobs in Alberta, or in Ontario, or the U.S. I need to see our firms and our staff right here at dwelling thrive and develop,” Beck added. “Folks have to believe within the course of.”
Responding to feedback made by Beck and Opposition critic for ethics and democracy Meara Conway in query interval final week, Prairie Sky Technique denied any insinuation that former Sask. Occasion minister turned lobbyist Kevin Doherty was concerned with CRM when the 2022 contract was inked.
“Mr. Doherty had no information or involvement with the method for establishing a southern tire processing RFP or the awarding of that contract,” stated Doherty’s employer, CEO Jeff Sterzuk, in an announcement Friday.
Sterzuk confirmed Doherty registered with the Saskatchewan Lobbyist Registry as a “advisor lobbyist” on Nov. 25, which was inside 10 days of his coming into into an “engagement” with CRM, as is required by regulation.
He stated it’s for “in-house” lobbyists that the 30-hour rule, which permits a person to have interaction in as much as 30 hours of lobbying earlier than being required to register, applies. Final week, Conway identified the rule throughout critiques of the federal government’s dealing with of the recycling contracts, calling it a “loophole.”
“It could have been unlawful for Mr. Doherty to have interaction in any lobbying or advocacy beneath the 30-hour rule that has been cited,” he wrote, persevering with the agency “wouldn’t tolerate” that from an worker.
— with information from the Saskatoon StarPhoenix
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