Background
During the 1970s, one of Saskatchewan's biggest industry was potash mining. Much of it was run by American mining companies that would export it to the US. The recently elected New Democratic Party (NDP) provincial government of Allan Blakeney enacted the Mineral Taxation Act and the Potash Reserve Regulations that effectively taxed the companies for their mining.
The mining companies sought to reclaim the tax that they had paid over the years. They made a Constitutional challenge against the Act on the grounds that the taxes were ultra vires the authority of the provincial government as taxation of this type was a matter for the federal government.
The provincial government sought refuge under section 5(7) of the Saskatchewan Proceedings Against the Crown Act, which barred recovery in just such an event. It stated that "the province's liability is limited in respect of things done or omitted in the exercise of power or authority under an ultra vires enactment".
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