Canada West Foundation, a forty-year old think tank headquartered in Calgary, has opened a new office in what their senior economist has called “the top-performing province in the country” - Saskatchewan.
At a dinner in Saskatoon’s Delta Bessborough hotel, Premier Brad Wall and local mayor Dean Atchinson were joined by high profile guests from the Western provinces including former Attorney General for British Columbia Geoff Plant, former Saskatchewan Minister of Finance Janice MacKinnon, former Manitoba MLA and current president of the Business Council of Manitoba James Carr, former Alberta MLA and current chairman of The Western Financial Group Jim Dinning, Member of Parliament for Blackstrap Lynne Yelich, and Cameco Corporation’s Gary Merasty.
Calgary-based PetroBakken (a PetroBank company) was a lead sponsor of the event. Two weeks ago, in the small town of Kerrobert Saskatchewan, the company unveiled a homegrown technology called “Toe-to-Heel-Air-Injection” or THAI, designed to recover heavy oil in an efficient and sustainable way. The province’s Premier and Minister of Energy were on hand for the project’s announcement, which they claim will make major strides in extracting the estimated twenty billion barrels of heavy oil under the province, while preserving other valuable resources like water and natural gas.
Saskatoon berry wine was poured while Jim Gray, outgoing chair of Canada West Foundation, provided the opening remarks. “Think of the great assets of this province,” he said, “We have energy, food, and water. Then think inside of that triangle: We have technology, we have innovation, we have the people, and we have the quality of life. That’s your future, in Saskatchewan. It’s a marvelous future, and well deserved.”
The premier was introduced by CEO of Petrobank Energy John D. Wright. Guests from Alberta - already fearful of a shrinking competitive advantage at home - squirmed in their seats as Wright praised the “excellent leadership” and economic strength of Saskatchewan.
“I want to share with you that Petrobakken, and our parent company PetroBank, see Saskatchewan as the province for investment in Canada,” Wright said, “From the communities in which we work to the halls of the legislature; we’ve been welcomed with open arms. There couldn’t be a better place to do business in our experience. We will invest all that we can into this province.”
Wall picked up the praise, even adding fuel to the fire with a slide show depicting the Calgary Stampeders taking hits from the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Slogans like “You don’t stand a chance” over pictures of the football teams appeared on a large screen. Taking a more serious tone, the premier talked at length about the disparity between economic power in Western Canada and political power centralized in the East. Calling upon the National Energy Program, the musings of John A. MacDonald, and the notion of ‘easy money in the oil patch’, Wall framed his comments with “the disconnect; the lack of understanding between fellow citizens in the same country.”
“Some would say you’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you,” Wall said.
Charged with provoking debate and testing “national policies against regional aspirations,” Canada West Foundation certainly had good fodder for its opening in Saskatchewan. The premier went on to talk about the limits on a cap-and-trade scheme in the province - “We know we have to pay our share,” he said, adding the money must be re-invested in environmental technology in order to be “on in Saskatchewan” - and the growing alliances between the Prairie provinces in Canada and those in The United States.
Jack Vicq, former associate dean for University of Saskatchewan, will head up the new office in Saskatoon.
Published in National Post, November 14, 2009
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