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Duncan said “No,” there had been no work done on that front, but corrected himself a day later in a letter sent to McCall.

“That answer was not correct,” wrote Duncan. “There has been some preliminary work done by SaskTel on this front. I apologize for the confusion.”

Duncan and the Sask. Party government have pulled back from musing about privatizing SaskTel altogether, but have since expressed a willingness to partner with a private telecommunications company if it will improve service, protect head office jobs and increase revenue for the Crown corporation.

The NDP charges Bill 40 puts the future of Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations at risk and are concerned the government is aiming to privatize SaskTel.

McCall, SaskTel critic for the NDP, says if more than 10 per cent of the Crown is sold, it would have to pay up to 15 per cent in federal taxes.

He said the government has “changed its position” on SaskTel and Duncan’s letter is an example of a “Sask. Party government that can’t be trusted.”

Duncan says he was confident in his original answer to McCall — that no work had been done about how a deal would be structured — but after he spoke with SaskTel CEO Ron Styles, he realized he was wrong.

“I had not had a conversation with the CEO about this topic,” said Duncan, despite his government being asked about the topic for several months.

This is the latest development in an ongoing debate over the future of SaskTel.

Last May, Premier Brad Wall indicated he wanted to know more about the future of SaskTel and a risk assessment was done on the company as a result.

Wall was adamant there would be no privatization of the Crown without a public referendum, but in early March he indicated that wouldn’t be necessary because he had the “clearest sense from voters” that they had no interest in a sale.

dfraser@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/dcfraser