Report indicates things looking better for Saskatchewan growth, trade

Things are looking up for the Saskatchewan economy according to the mid-year outlook released by the provincial government. Key indicators show increases in population, oil prices, oil well drilling, potash prices and production, new home building, manufacturing, vehicle sales and retail sales. The successor to Premier Brad Wall will inherit a growing province but be impossible to end quickly without deep cuts to government services. still $679 million, up $5.7 million from the March estimate. every dollar spent by the province. cent cut would be easy — just cut some fat. Unfortunately, Saskatchewan governments have been slicing away the fat for years, and are now sinking into muscle. Witness the reaction at library cuts, funeral cuts for indigent people and the STC cut that left thousands of rural folks without transportation. The new leader and the Saskatchewan Party will no longer be able to tough decisions come. The new leader will be judged quickly on the cuts he or she makes. predicted if one major proposed cut were possible. Wall proposed cutting $250 million a year from civil service pay with a negotiated deal to last three years. Not surprisingly, government unions per cent pay cut, asking why government workers should pay for policy mistakes by their employer? The whole pay cut notion stems from a private business approach by the Wall government. Bad times in business result in adjustments in jobs, lost jobs or, during the current oil slump, pay cuts. Wall is trying to transfer that business practice to government. The implied threat is job losses if there are no pay cuts. By doing so he plays a game of chicken with the unions. Either way, the public will lose. If there are forced pay cuts, many government employees disliking the practice will react with poor service. If there are job losses, programs and services will be reduced. Wall and his successor might remember the last Saskatchewan premier who tried to run the province like a business, Ross Thatcher. He - tice. A noted Saskatchewan economist Doug Elliott has pointed to differ- Alberta and Saskatchewan governments. and is coming out of the slump faster than Saskatchewan. Elliot suggests the Alberta government’s spending policy contributed somewhat to that faster recovery. The next premier might want to focus less on job cuts and more on growth of jobs and consumer spending. Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net