SASKATOON – Experts and mining leaders are weighing in on a new report that suggests Saskatchewan cannot sustain its current rate of economic growth.
According to a new study released Wednesday, while it’s a good time to be living in Saskatchewan, we may be relying too heavily on high commodity prices.
“For opportunity to continue you can’t rest on your laurels and what worked 10 years maybe doesn’t work the same way anymore,” said Doug McNair, with Certified Management Consultants of Saskatchewan.
The report by The Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Saskatchewan says the province’s rapid growth has been strongly influenced by the global commodity supercycle.
The challenge now is to move beyond a sole reliance on commodities to more “value-added” opportunities in order to sustain growth.
A great example of this, said McNair, is at Innovation Place in Saskatoon where there’s value-added processing of our food products.
“Instead of shipping out raw materials, if we can find ways to kinda add value then the jobs are going to be here, the investments going to be here and prosperity is going to be here.”
Unfortunately, the report says there is no way to predict how long our current commodity supercycle will last. Stating it could last as long as 20 years.
But the benefits for Saskatchewan are only for a portion of that time and the sooner changes are made to sustain growth the better, as the province will suffer less from a downturn in global demand for commodities.
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