A recent article in Maclean's Magazine left me - and perhaps other readers in this province - wondering: is Saskatchewan unmentionable for some reason, or is the name simply too hard to spell?
I was attracted in the May 12 issue to a single-column article in our national magazine headed: "Who's got top growth? Not Alberta!".
Naturally, I told myself, Saskatchewan finally is meriting the national limelight. Admittedly, in its March 24 issue, Maclean's gave copious ink to the regrettable fact that Saskatoon and Regina are the most dangerous Canadian cities in which to live.
This was acknowledged in this space last week, but I don't know who made the comparison, nor what criteria were used to establish this undesirable conclusion. I believe any city in Canada may be safe or dangerous to live in, depending on what part of the city you live in, and on the part of a 24-day you frequent its environs.
In the May 12 issue referred to earlier, Maclean's had to be referring (I thought) to the boom making itself felt in this province, probably unprecedented since the 1920s, when Saskatchewan's growth was causing eyes to pop throughout the nation.
Relying on Statistics Canada's alleged pronouncement that "Alberta was knocked off its crown as Canada's fastest growing economy" I was certain there would finally be a good word for our province as to economic growth being experienced. (The heading was a puzzler in another sense. I can understand a crown being knocked off something, but how does a province or anything else get knocked off its crown?)
The writer of the article went on to note that "the western tiger's three-year reign was ended as the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Newfoundland posted record growth rates for 2007". It was also acknowledged that Yukon had posted a mere growth rate of 3.8 percent, a slight margin over Alberta's 3.3, on a par with that of Manitoba. By the way, was Alberta's past growth confined to a mere three years?
I do not begrudge Newfoundland's sudden economic growth and wealth. I believe it will send thousands of Newfies scurrying back to the province and people they love.
Exactly how much "the provinces" of Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon grew in tangible growth is not disclosed. To put the comparison into perspective, a small village with no growth by any definition might, through some miracle, or by the arrival of even a small industry, experience in that year an economic growth of 10 percent. Would that really justify a comparison with Alberta or any other province?
According to Google, our three northern territories, while comprising in all nearly half of Canada's size, have a total population of 260,000 - amounting to one-quarter or less of the head count of any one of the three prairie provinces.
In any event, the real growth of any province of Canada - which incidentally includes Saskatchewan - has no need to compare itself with the barren north and its halcyon times. Fortunately, we do not live or prosper by Maclean's judgments.
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