There wasn’t much in the federal budget to stir the souls of 1.1 million Saskatchewan residents according to post-budget reports and analysis.
With the exception of some previously promised funds for various municipal infrastructure projects, the federal deficit largesse did not extend to the Prairies, especially not to Saskatchewan, in spite of the promised $30-billion deficit spending that was deemed necessary to kickstart the economy.
As it turned out, Saskatchewan’s economy didn’t receive a kickstart, just a kick.
But, in the cruel world of politics, that’s what you expect when you hitch your wagon to a singular party. That wagon can turn into a gravy train when your team is seated on the left side of the House of Commons, so you ride that train hard when that happens.
There will be pundits who claim Saskatchewan didn’t get many great deals when the Conservatives ran the show either, but there is some evidence to the contrary, at least compared with what is unfolding now, five months into the new regime.
An anticipated $570 million in revenue sharing, equalization funds for our once again “have-not” province did not materialize. In fact, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador received only a pittance in recovery funding for their hard-pressed oil industry that has laboured under weakened international prices for more than two years. Saskatchewan didn’t even get that. Apparently we are not hurting enough to attract the attention of the new prime minister and his Sunny Ways cheerleaders.
In the meantime, the provincial campaign wages on with the typical roll out of blame for everyone for past mishaps. Those are accompanied by promises for a brighter future that will be impossible to achieve without a turn around in the economy.
Saskatchewan has no desire to be the golden child within the federal family compact, our representatives have to be realistic. Saskatchewan is an afterthought in Ottawa, whether we’re swimming in money or not. We have our pride, but not a huge voice or a big stick to bring into the game. The best strategy we can deploy, we feel, is to continue to be a team player until our economic pride and good nature is threatened.
With growing lineups at food banks, unemployment cheques running out while social services and health-care teams are called on more frequently … we’re getting close to that point.
We trust readers don’t mistake this as a plea to help oil industry millionaires and billionaires … it’s not. It’s a plea for recognition of what has gone before and what is to come.
With the price of West Texas Intermediate oil hovering around US$38 to US$40 per barrel, the industry still flounders, especially when there is no heartening news to be found on the horizon either nationally or internationally.
When potash prices dip below $US300 a tonne and stay there for more than a year, Saskatchewan is not going to be a beehive of activity in that industry either.
Coal prices have dipped, uranium is looking a bit better, but far from record setting, while gold is now moving along fine, but that is not our major resource.
All we can hope for at this juncture is for a huge year in a sector that always seems to get little or no attention, especially at the federal level. We speak of course, of agriculture, the billion-dollar backup plan.
Heck, we can even recall the time when Saskatchewan proudly bore the label as the Wheat Province. Now we have much more than that, with lentils, corn, mustards, canola, flax and more within the agricultural sector.
Anybody out there interested in the farming community now?
