Battlefords MLA Herb Cox is buoyant about strong economic numbers for Saskatchewan.
"It's a continuing on of the growth we've been experiencing over the past several months," said Cox, who called it "good news."
Cox spoke to the News-Optimist in advance of the spring sitting of the legislature that began Monday
He pointed to 2011 numbers released Wednesday by the province's enterprise ministry, which reported a 25 per cent increase in building permits in the province compared to 2010, as well as provincial growth that outpaced the national rate.
Building permits totaled $2.6 billion, the highest on record, and the 473 housing starts in January were a record for the first month of the year. Also touted was what was called record high employment in January with 520,600 people employed including 419,000 full-time jobs.
Cox pointed to those numbers as well as the 2011 Census numbers showing 6.7 per cent population growth in the province as positives.
"It's a balanced growth," said Cox. "We've seen growth in the small cities and growth in the towns and villages, and I think that's a good thing for the province."
Cox also pointed to the expansion activity in the Battlefords, with recent figures for January showing five building permits issued for $5.8 million. One of those, for $5.1 million, is for the new Jaydee Agtech location.
"The Battlefords have not been left out of this. We've seen great growth on both sides of the river," said Cox.
He pointed to expansion activity by existing businesses and also in residential homes as another positive. "People are putting in new windows, people are putting in furnaces - we see that now with our businesses."
Cox called it an "overall optimism" and said that's what's driving the economy in the Battleford.
He credits SaskParty policies such as potash and oil and gas growth and work on the aboriginal file. He noted aboriginal employment is up 6,200 jobs and the rise in aboriginal youth employment by 1,400 job.
Cox also credits work bringing in immigrants to fill skilled positions.
He pointed to the visit that same week of Premier Brad Wall to the United Kingdom and to Ireland to attract Irish workers to Saskatchewan to fill those skilled jobs.
Another interesting statistic in the economic numbers was the jump in sales of motor vehicles, which went up 7.3 per cent. Cox sees that as a spinoff of the good economic times.
"Now these people have some money to spend, and it's great to see they're buying cars and those kind of things, and all that spinoff helps us all."
As for keeping the growth going, Cox said that will be a focus of the government during the spring session.
He said the government's priority will be to focus on working to keep the economy growing and fulfill their election promises and their pledges in the Throne Speech to keep the quality of life strong and to do it in a balanced budget.
"We're not going to go on any wild spending spree," he said, with any surpluses going to pay down the debt and for infrastructure. He expects to see a steady-as-she-goes budget when it is delivered in the legislature March 21.
As for Cox himself, he continues to settle in to his new role as an MLA in the legislature.
His learning curve isn't as steep as it was when he first started in the legislature in November. Still, "there's a lot more to what goes on in the formulation of legislation than I ever imagined," said Cox.
His constituency office also opened and is situated in the same location where former NDP MLA Len Taylor was located, at 100th Street and 20th Avenue in North Battleford.
Cox is also settling into his new committee roles. He was appointed to serve on the legislature's standing committee for public accounts, as well as on the Crown and Central Agencies Committee. Cox is also on the management committee for the caucus.
