[Festivus]

I'd expect a huge misinformation campaign as well, centered around a few things:

1) Bag of money (ignoring long-term dividends we'd lose out on)
2) Keeping competitive rates (which they won't)
3) Leveraging national network of whomever buys them (we already get roaming)
4) Keeping head office jobs (which will, at the very least, be eliminated through attrition and replaced with lower-paying jobs in other places)
5) Same strong rural service (no way, no money in it)
6) Sasktel won't be able to keep up with infrastructure investments (no sign of this)

This will, as stated above, be confirmed by "independent experts" and think-tanks.

There is also no way in hell they will run a referendum on the issue as it would cost tens of millions of dollars. Instead, they will make it a major plank in the next election. To scare people into voting for them, they will say stuff like "okay, so maybe you don't 100% agree on our Sasktel sale...but the alternative is an NDP government, and you don't want that." That may work with a large swath of the electorate, especially rural and suburban.

In addition, all 3 national carriers will be in favour of the sale, even if they aren't the ones buying Sasktel, as it will allow all of them to jack up rates here. CTV and Global are also owned by these companies, so you can expect them to take the side of selling in terms of soft coverage of the issue.

If there was a credible and strong NDP opposition (or credible Liberal Party waiting in the wings) this wouldn't be an issue...but there isn't. The NDP needs to get a heavyweight in for their next leader, but I don't think it will happen. I really wish the Liberals still existed here and were a credible alternative.