Released on February 19, 2008
Economic Checklist Shows Saskatchewan Leading the Country in Many Key Areas
Premier Brad Wall told a sold-out audience at a luncheon held by the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce that the province's growing economy is at a tipping point and his government's goal is to ensure the economic momentum continues.
"Years from now, we'll look back on this period and recognize how critical it was," Wall said. "We are either beginning a period of sustained prosperity that will benefit many future generations, or we will slip back into a period of slow economic growth and population decline."
Wall said the policies the new government is embarking upon, including an innovation agenda, a focus on growth challenges like infrastructure and the labour shortage and eliminating barriers to growth, are aimed at sustaining the province's economic momentum.
Wall also released the first Saskatchewan Economic Checklist, showing that the province is leading the nation in a number of key economic indicators, including sales growth, construction growth and income growth.
"Saskatchewan has everything we need to be one of the strongest economies in Canada on a permanent basis," Wall said. "So our goal should be to consistently out-perform the national average in all of the key economic indicators."
Wall noted that Saskatchewan is out-performing the national average in nine of 10 categories, but is lagging behind in employment growth.
"This highlights the need for more people in Saskatchewan and the need to ensure more First Nations people have the skills they need to enter the workforce," Wall said. "Our government is committed to policies that sustain economic growth and ensure that all Saskatchewan people benefit from a strong and growing economy."
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For more information, contact:
Ian Hanna
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-2127
Email: ian.hanna@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-530-3177