Friday 6 December 2013

Growth and the Province

The provincial government issued a press release regarding growth in the province. Here is parts of it and my response.

Today is the final day of the fall legislative session which focused on meeting the challenges of a growing province, according to Premier Brad Wall.
“Saskatchewan has grown by more than 100,000 people in just six years,” Wall said.  “That creates many new opportunities and it also creates many new challenges.  Our government is working hard to meet the challenges of a growing province.”
Wall said two of the biggest challenges are building infrastructure and addressing the labour shortage.
“Over the past six years, our government has more than doubled investment in infrastructure projects like hospitals, schools and highways,” Wall said.  “Still, there is more to be done and we have to look for ways to ensure taxpayers’ dollars are going further by exploring new and innovative approaches to building these kinds of projects.
The provincial government has been doing a good job on a lot of different fronts in facilitating the expansion and diversification of the province's economy. They have been given some good opportunities in which to govern and have been optimizing those opportunities.

As they focus on growth in areas like labour, hospitals, schools, and highways I would like to encourage them to remember that those expanded and new hospitals and schools, the new workers who are also new residents, and the highways which transport our people, our goods, and our services, are located in municipalities. Municipalities that lie outside the orbit of Saskatoon and Regina, municipalities that also need infrastructure such as new and expanded water and sanitation treatment plants, new and expanded landfill sites, and new and expanded facilities to invest in the new people in Saskatchewan.

In the end what I am asking the province to do is to diversify their investment in the province. Hospitals, schools, and highways are sexy; but can we grow if we don't have water to drink and toilets that don't flush?

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