The Weyburn area is doing "exceptionally well" in leading Saskatchewan's economic growth and increase in jobs this year, said Economic Development Minister Janice MacKinnon.
In a phone interview on Monday, the minister was upbeat about how well Saskatchewan's economy performed in 1997, with the trend likely to continue on in 1998.
"I think the real story of 1997 is jobs and growth. We had a record number of people working in the summer. Your area is doing exceptionally well, with the biggest single announcement in the province this year coming from the Weyburn area with PanCanadian's announcement of their $1.1 billion carbon dioxide project," said Ms. MacKinnon, adding that the latter announcement will mean continued job growth through next year.
"In pretty well every sector we're growing. We're also growing in manufacturing, which was up by 10 per cent, the highest increase in Canada. That's important because it shows we're broadening the base of the economy into more processed products," said the minister.
Once the carbon dioxide project starts to get underway, the province will work with the Weyburn area to ensure that there will be an adequate supply of goods and services for the growth expected to come here.
"I think that's one of the great things coming up, that in Weyburn we'll have very important opportunities to capitalize on," said the minister.
Retail sales figures are up by about seven per cent this year, she said, which can be attributed partly to the reduction of the sales tax last year, and partly to a sense of optimism in the economy.
The province recently received the results of a national study by KPMG into how competitive Saskatchewan is as a place to do business, and the results are promising, said Minister MacKinnon. The figures showed that for someone looking to start a new business, it's about 29 per cent cheaper to do it in Saskatchewan than in Calgary, and 18 per cent cheaper than to start up in Winnipeg.
"We have to promote an attitude of success in the province. It's a fast-growing place, and we have to talk about that," she said.
Asked if the province was concerned that the present growth could follow the boom-bust cycle of past years, Ms. MacKinnon said the growth trend is more gradual than the pattern of the boom-and-bust cycles experienced in the 70s and early 80s.
"I wouldn't describe it as a boom, but as good solid growth. I think we're moving away from boom-and-bust in the sense that we're broadening the economy," said the minister, giving the agricultural industry as an example, where there is more variety in crop types as well as growth in manufacturing of agricultural products here.
While the province will always feel the effect of fluctuating commodity prices, Ms. MacKinnon said that effect will be felt to a lesser degree as the industry diversifies to other activities and products.
"The growth is more sustainable and more broadly based. It's a whole series of sectors doing well. Manufacturing is having a much greater impact on the province than ever before."
Asked about a concern from the oil and manufacturing industry in the southeast over a shortage of skilled labor, Minister MacKinnon said the government is putting its efforts towards job training.
"We're doing a better job of predicting what sort of jobs are going to open up. We are aware of the issue of training, but we're working very hard to try to close that gap and do more on-the-job training, and be more pro-active," said the minister, noting some regional economic development authorities are travelling outside of the province to recruit workers to come to Saskatchewan to work.
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