Oh the Irony...
I couldn’t help but note the irony when reading two of Saskatchewan’s top news headlines today. First, I read that the Roughriders would be losing their top receiver to the Stampeders. I’m not a huge sports fan so, initially, this didn’t get to me all that much. Then I came across another headline, which indicated that Saskatchewan lost 2,000 people in the last quarter of 2005. It seems that Elijah Thurman is not the only one who thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the 110th meridian.
Sure, Saskatchewan’s depopulation has come to be expected under Lorne Calvert’s tutelage, but it still stings every time we lose another chunk of our residents to Alberta and other areas of the country. It might not be so bad if it hadn’t been happening for so many consistent quarterly reports from Statistics Canada. However, the situation seems to be getting worse.
Saskatchewan lost exactly 2,065 people between October 1 and December 31 of last year. This is more that twice the amount that we lost during the same period the year before and even bests the amount lost during the rest of the entire year in 2005, as we only lost 1,692 between January and October. And I thought things were bad before!
In fact, Saskatchewan lost more people than any other jurisdiction in the entire country. As a percentage of our population, the only province to outpace us was Newfoundland and Labrador, whose unemployment rate is three times that of our own. They have no other choice but to leave!
But do Saskatchewanians really have much of a choice anymore? The business sector in our province has grown stagnate, the agricultural sector is perhaps in disrepair, and new ideas for economic growth have not come out of the provincial government in over a decade. What are the fine people of this province to do? Oh wait, isn’t Saskatchewan in the middle of an oil boom? This is what the NDP keeps touting, but to look around one might wonder where the effects of such a boom are being realized other than in the government’s coffers.
As it stands, Saskatchewan’s future prospects are about as promising as the Roughriders winning the Grey Cup next year. Like the Riders, if we keep losing our brightest and best to Alberta, there’s little hope for our success.
Sure, Saskatchewan’s depopulation has come to be expected under Lorne Calvert’s tutelage, but it still stings every time we lose another chunk of our residents to Alberta and other areas of the country. It might not be so bad if it hadn’t been happening for so many consistent quarterly reports from Statistics Canada. However, the situation seems to be getting worse.
Saskatchewan lost exactly 2,065 people between October 1 and December 31 of last year. This is more that twice the amount that we lost during the same period the year before and even bests the amount lost during the rest of the entire year in 2005, as we only lost 1,692 between January and October. And I thought things were bad before!
In fact, Saskatchewan lost more people than any other jurisdiction in the entire country. As a percentage of our population, the only province to outpace us was Newfoundland and Labrador, whose unemployment rate is three times that of our own. They have no other choice but to leave!
But do Saskatchewanians really have much of a choice anymore? The business sector in our province has grown stagnate, the agricultural sector is perhaps in disrepair, and new ideas for economic growth have not come out of the provincial government in over a decade. What are the fine people of this province to do? Oh wait, isn’t Saskatchewan in the middle of an oil boom? This is what the NDP keeps touting, but to look around one might wonder where the effects of such a boom are being realized other than in the government’s coffers.
As it stands, Saskatchewan’s future prospects are about as promising as the Roughriders winning the Grey Cup next year. Like the Riders, if we keep losing our brightest and best to Alberta, there’s little hope for our success.
posted by Saskatory at
5:22 PM
6 Comments:
Estevan loses some to Regina and Regina to Calgary loses there brightest and best to Toronto and Toronto to New York. So what's your point ?
Sask is the boonies, trying to solve the out migration issue is like trying to recruit people to live in Siberia.
No policy will ever change that, try to post on an issue that you might understand.
By
Anonymous, at 6:38 PM
Well said Brick Wall. You win the prize for defeatism.
Having lived in Saskatchewan for most of my life, as well as elsewhere, I do understand the province but can also objectively look at what it is doing wrong. The fact of the matter is that there are many people who move away that would like to stay in Saskatchewan but the quality of work available here just doesn't compare. I'm glad that you think so highly of our province and have such a forward-looking attitude, perhaps you could write policy for the Saskatchewan NDP.
By
Saskatory, at 9:00 PM
Brick Wall, what is your solution? Leave everything the way it is?
By
Anonymous, at 5:24 PM
Regardless of why people are leaving, we need to find out how to stop them. We do have one of the youngest populations in Canada but that will change if all the twenty-somethings keep leaving West. I think we need to start with a new government...
www.saskexports.blogspot.com
By
Ryan, at 1:16 PM
"...new ideas for economic growth have not come out of the provincial government in over a decade." WOW! That very view from the rural and right is exactly what is wrong with the province. You expect your government to come up with your ideas. What happened to entrepreneurship?! Stand up, get motivated, write a business plan and create some jobs.
By
Anonymous, at 4:25 PM
Brick Wall I guess never realized that people came here by the hundreds of thousands to get away from places like they mentioned, at the turn of the last century.
By
Saskboy, at 10:45 PM
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