Finance committee  From a Saskatchewan perspective, it's absolutely critical, not only for potash but also for oil and for some services. In the fall of this past year, we co-hosted a Saskatchewan-U.S. trade summit. North Dakota has a 2% unemployment rate right now. They're in the black and they're

Finance committee  It would mean great things. We're a province that's absolutely reliant on exports. We export more per capita than British Columbia and Alberta. We have to make our entire modal system, our transportation system, more fluid. We would not eliminate the need to put oil on rail by

Finance committee  Thank you, and I appreciate the opportunity to come. I have our presentation in hard copy in English only, only because of the turnaround time. If you'd like copies of it, they are here. Mr. Chairman, in recent years Saskatchewan has been one of the primary economic engines keep

Finance committee  In rough numbers, I would say $450 million.

Finance committee  Right.

Finance committee  It's based on some of the models that have been established in other jurisdictions. I am not in a position to negotiate it. But I believe that fair treatment across the country is required. Our provincial government needs to believe they can convince the consumers and taxpayers o

Finance committee  That's a difficult question. The productivity in this province has in many ways increased and has in other ways declined. I think it's a problem of vision. We have a tendency in Canada to think too short term. We see consistent requests for strategic planning. I think that's what

Finance committee  There's no question. And I would argue that as much as our business community is starting to think more long term and are cognizant of the short-term issues of dividends, we're probably going to come into a period of time, because some of the challenges to dividends in this past

Finance committee  No, it would be for the facilities. There are two costs for the operation of a post-secondary institution: one is the capital cost of housing the students and for programming, and the second is the operational cost. The challenge we've seen here is that there may be a capital ass

Finance committee  Right now, in Saskatchewan, we have a significant challenge in getting enough people into our post-secondary facilities, including everyone from apprentices all the way up to doctors. We face the challenge because the capital investment by our provincial government and its partne

Finance committee  We would suggest that it's both. We need both the degree programs that would give us engineers and we need the apprenticeship, and in some cases we need the short courses. One of the challenges we face in this province is the entry-level folks, referenced earlier, regarding the w

Finance committee  Absolutely. We have examples right now where Cameco and a provincial-federal government partnership are putting $30 million, I believe, towards training northern community individuals. In our post-secondary institutions now we see many of the corporations--EnCana, I'm sure, is a

Finance committee  It is 5%.

Finance committee  I think it is more complex than that, but that's certainly part of it. In order to make the transition happen, the funding, or the agreement with the federal government, not only on the core dollars that would be transferred to the provincial government but on the specific elemen

Finance committee  Good morning. My name is Steve McLellan. I'm the CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for the opportunity to present the perspectives of the Saskatchewan Chamber to this committee. We fully appreciate the many presentations you'll receive and also the time lim