The chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan Valley Potato Corp. is among staff who lost their jobs last week as a result of an ongoing company review.
Dale Sigurdson, who previously worked for the provincial agriculture and economic development departments, was the company’s first CEO.
He has been replaced by Glenn Hornick, former mayor of North Battleford and chair of the SVPC board.
SVPC is a subsidiary of Crown Investments Corporation Industrial Interests Inc. It was formed in May 2000 after Spudco, a division of Sask Water, was dissolved.
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The government’s involvement in the potato industry has been controversial and costly, with losses in excess of $10 million.
Zach Douglas, CIC vice-president of investments, said the board has been “taking a good hard look at this investment” and wanted to cut costs. It is also considering the long-term mandate of the corporation.
“The board will be taking a look at the options over the next month or two,” he said July 30.
“As part of that review it was determined that Mr. Sigurdson’s services were no longer required. He was not fired for cause.”
Two other employees were to lose their jobs July 30, reducing the number of full-time employees to five from nine.
“Marketing is the number one function,” Douglas said. “The board of directors feels that we can adequately handle those functions with the staff we have now.”
As well, Douglas said the Moose Jaw head office will close. Operations will be consolidated at Broderick to better focus on supporting the seed potato industry.
Most of the industry is located in the Broderick-Outlook area, near irrigation and five storage sheds constructed by Spudco in the late 1990s.
The ongoing review of SVPC will include consultations with seed potato growers, municipal governments and other interested parties.
