October 10, 2018 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Session 1

Date: October 10, 2018
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Total participants

Key themes or ideas

1. Value added is important. Is there a fourth idea for the economy?
2. Technology and automation – integrating technology in to key sectors.
3. Inclusiveness – There are different challenges for each group.
4. Government and regulations – There is a heavy regulatory burden and this need to be managed.
5. Infrastructure – Transportation, broadband.
6. Utilization different economic models

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

• Less commodity, more product.
• We must look at more diversification, clean technology for example.
• Is there a fourth leg or idea for the economy? Do we have the thought muscle to get there?
  • Resources are a staple and we need agriculture value added. Moving the technology sector forward will take decades to limit the effects felt in the commodity cycles.
  • There will be more automation improvements over the next 10 years. Doing this in the rural areas will be very challenging.
  • We will still be linked to commodities in 10 years. What we need is incremental steps as commodity prices come back to have capital and move forward.
• We need to integrate technology in to key sectors.  We have the superclusters, but where can AI, machine learning be used to address key areas for product differentiation?
• Most of the female led businesses are in the service sector. We need to move more women entrepreneur’s in to high growth sectors.

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

• Market access, exports infrastructure, pipelines are all important to Western Canada.
• We need global class infrastructure to grow. Churchill may add 5%, while the rail lines are not reinvesting in infrastructure upgrades.
• There is a need for aggressive promotion as we have tremendous assets. For WDthere is a role in supporting trade shows but we need to be aggressive.
• Saskatchewan has to think a little differently than in the past. Where will the global economy be in 10 years and how do we align with it?
• As globalization continues, how do we increase population of highly skilled and wealthy immigrants?  If we can get 200,000 more people in Saskatchewan, it will spur massive economic activity.
• Think about where the world is heading and pick five of the most likely geographic locations with what we have to offer and target them. We have been broad spectrum for years. Given the talent pool and resources available, we need to be strategic.

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

• Incorporate indigenous people in to the economy. We need to get this right for real economic participation.
• Only three or four reserves allow homes with title that you can take debt out against. Many successful people leave the reserve, while those that stay perpetuate the unemployment cycle on reserve.
• Companies have many up front efforts and capital to get establish and provide a strong foothold in training the northern population. Over time you build up trust and further over generations you get 2nd and 3rd generation mine workers that become mentors. We need to continue to utilized this approach and strengthen it.

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

• You need to separate women, youth and immigrants, as they are different.
• There are challenges to accessing venture capital for women.  The digital transformation will affect access to markets, which leads to growth for small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s).
• Further interactions with nominees would most likely increase their business success but due to the language barrier most nominees do not came back after their initial required meeting.
• Indigenous women entrepreneurs programs are good and can create economic independence.  If they are successful, there can be pushback from community on reserve.
• With millennials, there has been a change in companies thought process as companies are now using youth mentorship programs to understand the market changes.
• This tends to be a male dominated environment. Minorities tend to have challenges that are more personal.  We can adapt to the language issues the social challenges are bigger.

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

• Regulatory hurdles and red tape are costly to business and in some cases limiting expansion. This is occurring at every level depending up the situation.
  • The legislative and regulatory uncertainty is killing businesses (Bill C-69, species at risk and carbon tax).  This is causing capital to be stranded due to the uncertainty.
• Inviting people with more capital would help propel business and investment.
• There are many investment dollars out there but we currently have an uncompetitive tax system. Making changes to the investment and tax system would make people take on more risky projects.
  • Perhaps an old program such as the Flow Through Shares Program could stimulate the economy. This could possible be expanded to manufacturing and agriculture value added.
• Look at different economic models and approaches such as cooperatives particularly for indigenous groups.
• There needs to be a change in culture as research companies are shrinking in numbers. The front-end research is what feeds continuing innovation and the technologies that are developed by these companies.