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“There is a pattern of behaviour that is disturbing. And Saskatchewan will not abide by it,” Wall said.

In an interview with Postmedia on Friday afternoon, Bilous dismissed Wall’s claims.

Bilous pointed out all contracts are freely available online to any company that wants them. As for the 20 per cent clause Wall was referring to, it doesn’t apply to any province in the New West Partnership — including Saskatchewan, he said.

Wall insisted in his statement that his government remains free traders, but Bilous said those words don’t match the outgoing premier’s actions.

“I take issue when a province brings in a restriction, tries to block Alberta companies or make it difficult for Alberta companies to work on Saskatchewan job sites,” Bilous said.

The issue began Wednesday when Saskatchewan Highways and Infrastructure Minister Dave Marit announced that all Alberta contractors working on highway sites in his province would need to display Saskatchewan licence plates.

Bilous responded with an ultimatumto roll back the decision or the issue would go to court.

At the time, Marit denied the action was in retaliation for a 2016 kerfuffle over beer prices, in which Alberta hiked the price of beer sold in the province by $1.25 a litre and launched a grant program to help small Alberta brewers. That move sparked court challenges from out-of-province companies arguing the move hindered free trade.

But in his letter Friday, Wall confirmed Saskatchewan’s most recent move was indeed retaliatory.

Still, Bilous is hopeful the issue will be resolved — and that the Saskatchewan government soon picks up the phone, which they have yet to do.

Egraney@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/EmmaLGraney

cclancy@postmedia.com

twitter.com/clareclancy