The future is uncertain for a committee that advised the Saskatchewan agriculture minister now that the new Saskatchewan Party government is establishing an economic development agency.
Former NDP agriculture minister Clay Serby established the Action Committee on the Rural Economy in December 1999.
Its original four-year term was extended several times and its current mandate expires March 31.
However, the Nov. 7 election of the Saskatchewan Party and the resulting reorganization of government ministries now means the committee answers to enterprise and innovation minister Lyle Stewart.
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Stewart said Dec. 20 a decision on the committee’s future had not yet been made.
He said ACRE might not be necessary under the new Enterprise Saskatchewan agency.
Legislation to establish the public-private partnership, which will focus on economic development, was introduced in the December sitting of the Legislature.
It will be governed by a 12-member board, which will include an agricultural representative as well as representatives from business, labour, aboriginal people, rural and urban municipalities, post-secondary education institutions, co-operatives and the resource industry.
Sector teams representing different parts of the economy will also be established, including one for agriculture.
“ACRE may duplicate the efforts of the sector groups,” Stewart said, who added times have changed since ACRE received its first mandate.
“Rural Saskatchewan was in a death spiral,” he said. “Now we have to learn how to manage the success.”
Stewart praised ACRE for its good work over eight years. He said appropriate recommendations were made and acted upon.
Enterprise Saskatchewan will use a co-operative approach to economic development, Stewart said. Investment money won’t be coming from the provincial government.
“That’s not our role,” he told reporters. “We expect that to be done through the private sector.”
Instead, the agency will look at issues such as barriers to growth. For example, he said the length of time it takes to register a corporation might be identified as a concern.
Enterprise Saskatchewan will report to the public, although Stewart couldn’t say how often.
He has called for nominations to the board. An interim advisory board will be named early this year and the bill will get second reading and further scrutiny by the opposition once the session resumes in March.
NDP MLA Frank Quennell said he will keep a close watch on the bill to make sure it doesn’t allow crown corporation assets to be transferred to Enterprise Saskatchewan and ultimately privatized.
Stewart said that’s not what the agency is about. The legislation states that the Crown Corporations Public Ownership Act will be respected.
