By: Kelsey Sonntag, Chad Eggerman, and Craig Zawada, K.C.
The Crown Investments Corporation (“CIC”) is the holding company for Saskatchewan’s commercial Crown corporations. The CIC oversees subsidiary Crown corporation strategic directions, manages the structure designed to strengthen governance, performance and accountability of Crown corporations, and works to assist Crown corporation boards in discharging their responsibilities. CIC manages CIC Asset Management Inc. as well as providing oversight to several funds established with financial assistance or administrative coordination by the provincial government.
These Saskatchewan commercial Crown corporations are Saskatchewan Government Insurance (“SGI”), SaskWater, SaskEnergy, SaskTel, Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan, and SaskPower. As a Crown corporation, these entities are required to publicly disclose how they spend public money and to whom they make these payments to. They satisfy this duty by releasing Payee Disclosure Reports and posting them on their website. These reports are an opportunity for the public to review Crown corporations’ spending and they highlight the transparency and accountability of Crown corporations to their stakeholders. This information is also required by the federal government for the preparation of the Government of Canada consolidated financial statements.
When government is spending public money, transparency is vital. It allows the public to gain an understanding of how their money is being used, and what projects they are inherently supporting. It also allows them to keep the government accountable as they can see if promised work is being focused on.
This disclosure is unique but can pose difficulties in other contexts. For example, lawyers and law firms cannot disclose information about their clients without consent, including in some cases who their clients even are. The Code of Professional Conduct for lawyers practicing in Saskatchewan emphasizes this confidentiality. Section 3.3-1 says:
A lawyer at all times must hold in strict confidence all information concerning the business and affairs of a client acquired in the course of the professional relationship and must not divulge any such information.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, but lawyers have a strict obligation to protect the integrity of their clients and the information that has been shared. This is commonly known as Solicitor – Client Privilege and is an integral part of the practice of law.
However, when the client is a Crown corporation, like the largest Crown in Saskatchewan SaskPower, that government entity has an obligation to share information about the public money they are spending, including how much public money they have paid to businesses. This includes law firms. By way of an example, the table below lays out how much public money SaskPower has paid to law firms from 2014-2023:
| Law Firm | Amount SaskPower Paid (2014-2023) |
| MLT Aikins LLP | $33,303,909* |
| McDougall Gauley LLP | $11,381,673* |
| Kanuka Thuringer LLP | $4,339,052* |
| Lawson Lundell LLP | $3,400,367 |
| McKercher LLP | $3,132,749 |
| Singleton, Reynolds, Urquhart, Vogel LLP | $2,806,609* |
| Remote GC Law Corporation | $1,956,119 |
| Miller Thomson LLP | $1,618,008* |
| Commonwealth Legal | $1,118,014 |
| Trobert Gillis Law Firm | $898,144* |
| Goby Law Office | $706,617* |
| Billesberger Law Firm | $553,253* |
| Gerrand Rath Johnson LLP | $296,868* |
| Parchomchuk Sherdahl Hunter, Barristers and Solicitors | $279,465 |
| Hoffart Law Firm | $209,900* |
| UL LLP | $161,590 |
| Kohaly, Elash & Ludwig Law Firm LLP | $160,000* |
| Bennett Jones LLP | $147,175 |
| Phillips Legal Professional Corporation | $117,353 |
| McGeough Zepick Law Office | $84,200* |
| W.T. Molloy Law | $66,446 |
| John & Hengerer LLP | $63,455 |
| Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP | $62,077 |
| EBF Law Firm | $54,468* |
| D.M. Dynna Law Office | $52,121 |
| Simonit & Hanson, Barrister | $50,000 |
| Total amount spent | $81,376,456* |
*Amounts include money held in trust.
The practice of law is not the only profession that is subject to this requirement. In fact, it is important for all businesses to realize that when they are working with a Crown corporation in Saskatchewan, they need to be aware that their client, the Crown corporation, is required by legislation to prepare annual reports with information on the corporation’s mandate, strategy, business plans and financial statements. This includes the name of all businesses, and the amount of fees paid to each particular entity.
Businesses may not want this information disclosed, but this is the trade-off if they want to work with Crown corporations. This type of disclosure is something that cannot be blocked by special contracts or agreements. It is a legislated mandate on the Crown corporation to disclose this information. Anyone wishing to maintain confidentiality about their contracts and fee payments must decide if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. The following table provides insight to this, as it notes four of the largest multinational accounting firms and what SaskPower has paid to them from 2014-2023:
| Accounting Firm | Amount SaskPower Paid (2014-2023) |
| Pricewaterhousecoopers | $6,654,541 |
| Deloitte | $4,822,228 |
| KPMG | $2,814,645 |
| Ernst & Young | $180,689 |
| Total amount spent | $14,537,513 |
The information in these tables was pulled directly from the Payee Disclosure Reports posted publicly online by the CIC and show that Crown entities are fulfilling this obligation. Also, it demonstrates just how public this information is. While these tables only focused on law firms and accounting firms, all types of companies and businesses that work with Crown corporations are included in those reports.
If you are a business providing goods or services to any Crown corporation and have concerns related to this disclosure, Procido LLP may be able to help. Reach out to us today.
Disclaimer
This publication is provided as an information service and may include items reported from other sources. We do not warrant its accuracy. This information is not meant as legal opinion or advice. Contact Procido LLP (www.procido.com) if you require legal advice on the topics discussed in this article.