I really like the way this province and my city are growing. Fast but not out-of-control. Frantic at times but not frenetic.
But should the province ever aspire to grow to the point where we can claim a major resource, financial or cultural community?
Probably not.
It really doesn't matter that Saskatchewan will be dropping its corporate tax rate to 10 per cent to match the rate in Alberta.
Why?
Well, its because that horse left the barn decades ago.
I believe Saskatoon and Regina will eventually grow enough to be considered players in the higher minor leagues of business and industry, but they won't hit the major league. Those titles were claimed by Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, London, Ottawa over a century ago and in more recent decades, as the west was won, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver joined the elite in terms of population, commerce, political and financial clout, at least in Canadian terms.
We may rail against the injustice, but we actually brought it on ourselves when we insisted that smaller was better. And when we showed no desire to do anything of importance with our vast resource riches other than to ship them out, we sealed our corporate fate.
Now we talk about forging a commercial culture. We beg and cajole international players to come here and set up shop. We bribe them with subsidies, or in some cases, threaten them if they don't set up a significant shop here, but for the most part, it's a non-starter.
This province has the second largest sweet oil production pace in all of Canada yet no major oil company calls Saskatchewan home. In fact there are a couple of them headquartered in Calgary whose only oil assets are located in Saskatchewan, but they do their business suit activities out of Calgary and Edmonton because that is where it was determined the action would take place 70 years ago. Those who attempted to establish a base in Saskatchewan were soon persuaded to move out and over.
So today, we have plenty of oilfield action, but most of it is being driven by Calgary or Houston brain trusts who provide direction and incentives to the field office teams assigned to Estevan, North Battleford or heaven forbid ... Weyburn or Swift Current. They ply up and down our highways with Alberta plated pickups and Alberta-licensed equipment and Alberta-based employees who expect to "go home," as soon as they have paid their dues in Saskatchewan's minor leagues.
Now we see one of our two symbols of corporate dominance on the agricultural side going the way of international sellouts with the gradual disappearance of the one-time giant Viterra (read Saskatchewan Wheat Pool all you oldtimers). We still have the Farm Credit Canada headquarters, but for how long?
Yep, we took a stand when it came to establishing offices for potash, but ended up having to threaten and then subsidize their corporate presence because we couldn't make an argument on business status alone.
The big business, the huge bonuses, dividends and profits go elsewhere. Saskatchewan gets some well-paid jobs and we get to build big houses and drive big trucks.
This province should still be able to attract a few major players based on merit, but it's getting trickier by the year and it becomes downright self defeating as we continually nurture these field office attitudes and culture.
We ain't the big dawgs. We have the goods, but not the attitude, and you know, I'm thinking that might not be a bad thing, all things considered.
