Resource royalties are the fees that provincial governments charge private firms to exploit their province's natural resources. I have researched and written about Saskatchewan's oil and gas royalties for the Progressive Economics Forum, the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, former Premier Allan Blakeney, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
I argue that the Government of Saskatchewan should raise its royalty rates. The long-term benefits of collecting more provincial revenue and conserving more fossil-fuel reserves for future use would outweigh the short-term costs of reduced exploration and development in the province.
My most thorough analysis of this matter is Saskatchewan's Oil and Gas Royalties: A Critical Appraisal, a paper published by the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy. In a more recent paper, Saskatchewan at a Crossroads: Fiscal Policy and Social Democratic Politics, I examined royalties in the context of Saskatchewan's fiscal policy and equalization entitlement. In addition to publishing the paper, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives included an abridged version of it in Saskatchewan Notes. The Financial Editor of Regina's daily newspaper, The Leader-Post, and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's President both cited the paper in media commentary on the 2004 provincial budget.
A debate conducted on The Leader-Post's editorial pages outlines the arguments on both sides of the issue: