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On Thursday, on the fifth anniversary of Scott Moe’s swearing in as premier, the Saskatchewan NDP totted up the ways it feels Saskatchewan’s economy is falling behind.
“Scott Moe has shrunk the economy, he’s stalled job growth and he’s sent our kids packing — that is, if they can find a flight out of the province,” NDP Leader Carla Beck said.
Beck said Moe has failed to sell Saskatchewan’s positive story to the world, failed to capitalize on the province’s potential, and failed to give people the tools they need to succeed at home. Beck said it seems like Moe has given up.
Today is the 5-year anniversary of Scott Moe's swearing-in. People are fleeing the worst economic managers in Canada.
In the last 5 years SK has the worst overall rates of job growth (3%), a shrunken economy (-6%), and 36K folks have left. The numbers don't lie.#skpoli pic.twitter.com/ePjY1Gx5Zp
— Aleana Young (@AleanaYoung) February 2, 2023
The opposition party pointed to three economic indicators for the past five years: The first is job growth.
The NDP said Saskatchewan has the worst overall rate of job growth between February 2018 and December 2022, at three per cent. According to numbers from Statistics Canada, the province with the next-lowest employment growth for that time was New Brunswick at five per cent.
Next, the NDP looked to Saskatchewan’s GDP, which shrank by six per cent between January 2018 and December 2021, which are the most recent numbers available from Statistics Canada. That’s the worst record among Canada’s 10 provinces for that time; the next is Alberta’s GDP, which shrank by 3.5 per cent.
Looking back even further, Saskatchewan’s GDP has rarely enjoyed steady growth year over year, only seeing one five-year period of consistent growth since 2000. That was between 2009 and 2014.
Sometimes when the team isn’t performing, said Beck, you have to look at the coach.
“For all of his talk of growth, Scott Moe hasn’t even grown the economy. It’s not just that we don’t have growth that works for everyone, there isn’t any growth,” said Beck.
And finally, in those five years, the NDP pointed out Saskatchewan had a net loss of 35,856 people to interprovincial migration, which is more than any other province besides Ontario.
“I’m sure if people weren’t fleeing the GTA en masse during the pandemic, unfortunately we would be dead-last there as well,” said Aleana Young, the NDP’s jobs and economy critic.
Wading through older data also shows Saskatchewan has not enjoyed a net increase in any quarter in interprovincial migration since the second quarter of 2012. The last time there were more than three quarters in a row of a net increase was from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarter of 2010.
Trying to point out specific examples of where the provincial government has gone wrong to create these problems, Beck said the government has failed in health care and diversifying the province, and said the minimum wage makes it hard to attract people as well.
The NDP leader said there’s a sense in the province that this government has stopped working with industry, employers and municipalities to build potential and attract people to the province.
“We have a reputation problem and I hang that on the premier,” said Beck, pointing to headlines about the fights Saskatchewan’s government has with the federal government.
“The only thing that people in too many places, other provinces, are hearing are the premier’s tussles with the federal government or some of the shipping patients out of the province during COVID. The story that we’re telling about this province on a national stage does not match the reality here in the province (and) the potential. It’s damaging our ability to attract people to the province.”
Young said COVID was a factor the last few years, but COVID impacted the entire world and Moe was the only premier who managed to “tank the economy” before, during and after the pandemic. Saskatchewan’ GDP shrank in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Young said it’s easy enough to see through the provincial government’s “spin” if you look at the numbers.
“This is a premier who likes to hold up Saskatchewan’s low unemployment rate as evidence of a strong economy when, in fact, it’s anything but,” said Young.
“We have low unemployment because we have negative economic growth, low population growth, and (are) last in the nation in job growth.”
As for what the NDP thinks should have been done to rescue these numbers, Young talked about supporting new small business owners to get their foot in the door and reinstating the family reunification class of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program.
“On this five-year anniversary I hope that the premier will face up to his record honestly, because as much as the last five years have been a test of Scott Moe’s competency, today will be a test of his integrity,” said Beck.
980 CJME reached out to the premier’s office for an interview but was told he was unavailable Thursday. Instead, a statement from Trade and Export Minister Jeremy Harrison was emailed, accusing the NDP of cherry-picking data.
“There are great things happening in Saskatchewan as a result of the government’s policies and incentives, and under this Premier’s leadership,” read Harrison’s statement.
He mentioned Saskatchewan’s record-high population, the second-lowest unemployment rate in the country with record Indigenous and women employment, and record exports from Saskatchewan.
“We have the fastest-growing economy in the country, with the Conference Board of Canada predicting that Saskatchewan will lead the pack this year and next year. There are new schools and new hospitals, with thousands of new staff in those facilities,” wrote Harrison.
“There are challenges, and there is more to be done. But we are very proud of Saskatchewan and we are going to work hard to make sure this year is even better than the last.”
