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

SaskPower is buying 10,000 tons of steel amid U.S. tariffs, but Saskatchewan's minister of Crown corporations says the long-term answer is to build more pipelines.

The 10,000-ton SaskPower steel order announced Tuesday comes after the United States slapped Canada with a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum on Mar. 12.

Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan's minister of Crown investments corporation, said steel is one of the industries that the government can move on because of its Crown corporations.

"SaskPower was going to be procuring steel over, you know, a number of years into the future for needs," Harrison said. "What we really did was move up those procurements such that we would do this at the very front end and then be able to utilize that resource over the longer term."

The minister also noted that only about three per cent of steel bought by the province's Crowns is from the United States.

The province said Evraz is also working on a steel order from SaskEnergy.

"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," a news release said.

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

Pipelines wanted in the long term

Harrison said that while the province is able to move forward on the steel procurement, he wants long-term pipeline plans.

"We have been advocating tirelessly as a government to get pipelines built," he said at the Evraz facility.

"East, north, west, south, I don't care what direction. All of the above. We need to get pipelines built in this country again."

That message was echoed by United Steelworkers local union president Mike Day, who said there needs to be more infrastructure built.

"We used to be the number 1 producer of large diameter pipe in North America. We need to get back to that," Day said at the news conference.

Day said it has been a rough go for the workers in the tubular division at the plant for the last four to five years and the recent tariff chaos hasn't helped.

"Whether you're conservative, whether you're Democrat, we need to gather, get together and come up with more of these infrastructure projects to build the economy," he said.

Harrison said he was optimistic about a "change in tone" from the federal Liberal party in regard to energy infrastructure.

Evraz sale

In 2022, the Russian steel and mining company Evraz PLC announced it planned to sell its North American assets, which include the steel plant in Regina.

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

Evraz Canada senior vice president Don Hunter was present at Tuesday's news conference, but stayed tight-lipped about the potential sale.

"Everyone knows our company in North America is for sale," said Hunter. "I have no comments on the sale or the process because we're in the middle of it."

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