MOOSOMIN — Premier Scott Moe says the province has to keep supporting new investment in southeast Saskatchewan as the region grows.
Growth is happening in several communities in the southeast. Moosomin for example is expanding its water treatment plant to accommodate population growth of up to 4,600 people, Esterhazy is now moving forward with a new health centre to serve the region, with funding announced in the provincial budget this spring.
The premier was asked if there is anything more the government can do to support this growth in southeast Saskatchewan.
“I think we need to continue down the path that we are on, and one is supporting the economic investment under the various industries that we have, whether it ag value added or whether it’s the potash industry.
“Ultimately, we see some of our energy now transitioning to some degree into the lithium market. So, we need to support the industries that are creating wealth in those communities, creating wealth for our province and ultimately that are allowing us to make decisions like funding a hospital here in Esterhazy, like funding schools in community after community throughout, not only the southeastern part of our province but across the province.
“Those investments don’t come without a growing and vibrant economy. That is providing that opportunity for families and thereby providing opportunities for communities to invest alongside, not only the provincial government, but the federal government as well.”
The premier also spoke about the importance of the mining industry to the province.
“It’s of paramount importance,” he said. “All of our natural resources that are located in rural areas of the province are really just that—natural resources that are sitting idle until people actually come and mine those products, produce those products and use our agricultural land to its fullest advantage of producing food.
“It’s people that really bring value to the natural resources that we have and I often say this is the great synergy that we have in this province between rural Saskatchewan, our most rural areas, and our most urban centres, our villages, our towns, our cities.
“It’s people that live in Esterhazy, that live in Moosomin, that live in Estevan, that ultimately are able to bring that natural resource value to life, create those jobs and develop those resources whether it be ag land, whether it be energy or whether it be mine products like potash that is very large in this part of the world.
“We get into the northern areas of the province and uranium is the basis of employment there. So mining is paramount to the success of Saskatchewan and I would say that it isn’t possible without the innovative people that we have, and there’s no better example of that than right here in Esterhazy.”
The premier was asked if there is more the government can do to encourage that growth to continue.
“I think we’re positioning ourselves well, in particular when you look at where we are globally in a post-pandemic world, where we are globally with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, how different supply chains—people, countries, industries—are looking at their supply chains, not only in the scope of what is the cost of the product, what is the quality of the product and how does that product produce, but whether or not they’re actually producing from an allied safe nation that will be able to provide that potash fertilizer, that agri-food product or ingredients or the energy into the future.
“The supply chains are changing around the world and I think that’s why we’re positioned so well provincially as the province of Saskatchewan with our nine international trade and investment offices that not only secure those markets for the products that we sell to over 150 countries each and every year, but they’re also attracting some of that investment to further develop our resources and invest ultimately into the people of Saskatchewan that live here today and the people that are on their way to live here with their families tomorrow."
