Released on February 9, 2005
An audience of business, education, labour and government leaders heard Premier Lorne Calvert describe how Saskatchewan's future will be even brighter once this province gets the same equalization deal recently signed by Atlantic provinces.Calvert's speech to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto detailed how Saskatchewan is now home to growing private sector investment, nation-leading economic growth, booming job numbers, a diversified economy and balanced budgets.
"Saskatchewan today is on all fronts much changed from where we were just a decade ago," he said.
The speech highlighted how Saskatchewan will one day be able to take advantage of its vast heavy oil resources with the help of technological innovation and government policy that encourages the application of new technology.
Calvert said the province will be looking to the federal government for a partnership that would result in greater investment in enhanced oil recovery.
He added that Saskatchewan government's ongoing push for a fairer equalization formula is crucial to Saskatchewan's future. Calvert wants to ensure that in the future, any newfound resource revenues are not subject to clawback.
The Saskatchewan government has been making the case for a deal equitable to that signed between the federal government and the governments of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. The Atlantic Accord will allow those provinces to keep 100 per cent of their offshore energy revenue.
Calvert said the Saskatchewan government is looking forward to the establishment of an independent panel that will review the equalization formula.
"Before that good work begins, the federal government must meet its obligation to level the playing field," Calvert said. "We are today a have province. We have no desire to re-enter equalization. Exemption of Saskatchewan's resource revenues will ensure that never again will Saskatchewan draw from the nation's pool of equalization."
Calvert noted that his speech to the Empire Club came out less than a week after an address to the same group by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams.
"That Newfoundland and Saskatchewan should appear at the Empire Club, both filled with optimism for the future, both with a new momentum and both poised to show economic leadership speaks volumes to the change that is happening in our country," Calvert said. "In Canada's 21st century, the strength of our great nation, as never before, will be based on the strength of all our regions.
"Simply put, a strong Saskatchewan will contribute to a strong Canada."
Premier Calvert's speech is available on the Government of Saskatchewan website at http://www.gov.sk.ca/govinfo/news/premier_speech.html?0091.
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