An Alberta rancher has challenged Saskatchewan to create a multimillion-dollar investment fund for its future as it prepares to mark 100 years as a province in 1905.
The proposed Saskatchewan Centennial Innovative People’s Fund would solicit money from those who grew up and went to school here, said Bob Church of Lochend Luing Ranches in Airdrie, Alta.
“It’s payback time for those educated here and making good elsewhere.”
Church said the province’s centennial year could be a focal point to promote Saskatchewan and could help reel in people, knowledge and investment.
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“If you get excellent people, they attract excellent people and the rest all falls into place,” he said.
Church bought a wheat farm in eastern Saskatchewan and turned it into a cattle ranch that now provides jobs for rural youth.
He also cited the province’s successes and ingenuity in creating no-till farm equipment.
“That’s real innovation.”
Church said change is inevitable and Saskatchewan has to be prepared to adapt lifestyles and products and “make changes to keep ahead of the curve.
“You’re in danger of being so far behind that you’ll think you’re ahead,” he said, citing the need to change lifestyles and products, offer a healthy business climate and full access to the internet and global markets.
Dale Botting of the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority, speaking at a recent conference about how to double Saskatchewan’s population, said the province had grown complacent. It depends on federal support payments, a low Canadian dollar and overflow benefits from its prosperous neighbour, Alberta.
“The time has come for us to create a strategy of our own,” he said.
Another speaker, Peter Phillips of the University of Saskatchewan’s college of biotechnology, said the province has to move beyond the ‘”kill, crush, clean” mentality of agricultural production and into more value-added ventures.
He also called for the creation of centres of excellence in the province, which can no longer rely just on land, labour and capital.
“The challenge is to be responsive to the possibilities,” he said.
Rita Mirwald of Cameco Corp., noted the province’s population had been stalled at about one million since the 1980s. She called for better promotion of Saskatchewan’s attributes.
In addition to touting a good climate and geography, affordable housing and rich mineral reserves, she said government can also create a more hospitable business climate by easing the burden of taxation and royalties.
“Governments are eroding our natural advantage,” she said.
