October 1, 2018 - Regina, Saskatchewan - Session 3

Date: October 1, 2018
Location: Regina, Saskatchewan

Total participants

Key themes or ideas

1. Good technology and incentives are needed to move up the food chain
2. Harness our strengths and continue building upon them
3. Cumulative effect of regulation can be harmful to business – work with other department NRCan, ECCC, and Health Canada.
4. The bar for education is getting higher. Continue training but in targeted ways.
5. Pick a place where we can compete and own the value chain.

Q1) What does a stronger western Canadian economy look like 10 years from now?

• More indigenous employment.
• Transportation issues including pipelines, rail. There are solutions but we need to commit.  We have tremendous resources but we create bureaucratic hurdles.  We need a clear direction.
• Why are we not a food supplier for the world?  To move up the food chain we need good technology and companies need incentives. Pick a place where we can compete and own the value chain.
• We need to be very careful and honest. Are we investing to grow the economy versus just holding on to a sector?
• We need to help beyond the training.  We need to grow the worker.

Q2) What are the best ways to spur new growth in western Canada

• Supercluster initiative is the best program from the federal government. The federal government is far from where the work is done so an industry led solution where they have skin in the game is well set up.
• We would not have a good supercluster without the existing assets. Problems still exist with transportation, inclusiveness.
• Harness our strengths.  Natural resources are our strength so can we focus on these strengths while exploring new areas for growth.
• Look at sectors where we are doing well with emissions when compared to global competition and reward us for getting better.
• Mining has been good for hiring Indigenous people, particularly the uranium sector.
• We need evidence based decisions.

Q3) What will help the Indigenous economy continue to grow?

• Funding for training, as many indigenous people do not have many tools.  There is a lot of training but for jobs that do not exist or very little activity.
• Industrial Technology Benefits (WD programming) has helped with growing the indigenous economy.
• Globalization will continue to happen we need to address infrastructure challenges.
• Introducing big data, can we focus on forward looking goals not looking back?

Q4) How can we improve economic participation in the west of underrepresented groups, including women, youth, and new immigrants

• Incentives may be useful for business but mandatory levels are not good.
• Many of today’s youth in Canada do not want to work shift work or in some industries, thus we have turned to immigrants for a consistent labour force.
• The bar for education is getting higher.  Are we training our children to do things where the jobs of the future are?
• Some local companies have trouble getting local graduates to their business.
• Keep training going and get individuals involved at an early age.

Q5) How can governments, industry, and western Canadians work together to grow the regional economy?

• Some policies coming out of Environment and Climate Change Canada are at odds with the strengthening of the west. E.g. carbon pricing, Clean Fuel Standard and Impact Assessment Act.
• Provincial challenges to federal initiatives is hurting the province, as we are not getting all the federal funding of other provinces.
• We have to do something about the social problems in the country.  Health care requires a GDP growth of 2.6% to cover costs.  Investment on the preventative side, providing social assistance to marginalized (northern, rural, mentally challenged) could reduce costs.
• Tell me the strategy to provide understanding for my company, thus we will know our direction and have some clarity.
• Cumulative effect of regulation – Look at the whole list of programming and what we are doing?
• NRCan’s Canada Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP) has some of the same discussion as the Western Canadian Growth Strategy.  Marry some of the initiatives together.
• Clean up the environment while increasing output if possible.