Not having seen the fine details surrounding the provincial government's current Plan for Growth strategy, it is somewhat difficult to elicit a more concise critique on the subject.
But what we can say with some authority is that having a plan is a lot better than no plan at all which, alas, has been a situation we've found ourselves in with provincial administrations on several occasions in our history.
Mapping out some future assignments and setting some targets is not a bad thing at all. Of course that sets you up for shots from the ranks of the opposition if you fail to meet some of those goals. But we find that it is much better to have those targets set, and if they are missed, do a reset and keep busy.
Naturally, it's much easier to set and strive for ambitious goals when you have an overwhelming majority situation in the legislative assembly, like the Sask Party currently enjoys.
On the surface, it appears as if most of the goals are just ambitious enough to keep this government on its toes and moving forward. They are not namby-pamby objectives.
The one target that most people appear to be fixated on is the population goal of increasing the number of provincial residents to 1.2 million within the next eight years. In other words, adding about 120,000 people. That can be done with a little innovative thinking and planning, and a little more action on the manufacturing and construction side of the equations.
Saskatchewan lagged behind Alberta quite severely in the 1990s in terms of construction activity, and we're now paying the price for not having stayed current heading into the 21st century. We were doomed to the world of playing catch-up these past eight to 10 years. We've had to learn how to do things more quickly while retaining quality and safety controls, and it hasn't been easy. Quite often we've found ourselves doing more with less, adding workloads to those who are capable while trying to educate those who could be capable in blue-collar careers that were sadly lacking in numbers and skill sets.
We may now be winning that race as construction paces have quickened and barriers to rapid growth lifted where they can be lifted without sacrificing safety and quality.
Another area where the growth plan caught the attention of the populace was in an avowed desire to create a provincial heritage fund, but only after severely reducing the provincial debt load.
We suggest that this government could do both. They don't have to be linear thinkers on this file. With a preferential new corporate and individual tax base to work with, coupled with a fairly strong royalty income factor, there is no reason why the Brad Wall-led government can't come up with enough of a surplus over the next four years to provide both. Reducing debt service costs should, in turn, enable the government to add correspondingly to a heritage fund.
The trick will be in not fudging or cheating on one file to accommodate the other. That takes discipline and in the wonderful world of politics, that will probably be the most difficult task of all.
