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The Crown corporations owned by the province’s holding company earned more than half a billion dollars in profit last fiscal year, with nearly half of the total flowing into government coffers as dividends.

The $256-million payout got a boost from the the demise of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC), which paid $6 million in dividends over its final year in existence. All of its assets have been sold for a total of $29.7 million.

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The NDP called those results a disappointing “last will and testament” for the shuttered bus company. It again vowed to bring it back if elected, even if in a diminished form.

The STC results came in tandem with the annual report for the Crown Investments Corporation (CIC), which was able to pay out even more in dividends because it no longer has to provide a grant to subsidize the bus service. That freed up money from an existing pot of cash.

CIC now owns seven Crown corporations: SaskPower, SaskTel, SGI, SaskEnergy, SaskWater, SaskGaming and Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation, as well as a handful of other subsidiaries.