
TINA BEAUDRY-MELLOR:
Honouring Our Legacy,
Advocating for Industry
The Saskatchewan Party
Premier Brad Wall has been an extraordinary political
leader, not just here in the Province of Saskatchewan,
but nationally. History will mark his legacy as a period
of unprecedented economic growth and optimism in our province,
a period where we were transformed from a “have not” province to
a “have” province and shifted from the place to be from to the place
to be.
This is the time for renewal. My vision for Saskatchewan is to hon-our
the legacy of Premier Brad Wall by building on the foundations
that his leadership has set in advocating for our agricultural and
resource-based industries, growing our manufacturing sector and
championing Saskatchewan’s interests not only against the growing
harm that federal government policies are attempting to impose on
our economy and quality of life through both the imposition of the
carbon tax and tax changes, but also against the threat of American
protectionism to the south.
However, the status quo is not enough. The best way to honour
the legacy of our Premier is to set forward a vision for the province,
not just winning this leadership or the next election, but for the next
decade. My vision is to make Saskatchewan the economic power-house
of the West.
Three-quarters of all government expenditures are in our hu-man
service ministries – health, social services and education.
Saskatchewan citizens enjoy a high quality of life, but increasing uti-lization
pressures and demographic trends point to ever-increasing
expenses. I would like to see a smart social investment approach in
our human services, focusing on areas where there are demonstrat-ed
high levels of return on investment. One such example of this is
the inclusion of financial literacy and entrepreneurship mandated
in the K-12 curriculum. Not only does financial literacy help miti-gate
growing debt levels and financial hardship in Canada, but it al-so
cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset. My goal for Saskatchewan
is to make us the most entrepreneurial province in Canada.
Another smart social investment is the investment of infrastruc-ture
in Saskatchewan’s northern communities. Again, the current
upward trend of utilization pressures on our human services min-istries
is unsustainable over the long term and investments in in-frastructure
that enable economic development in our northern
SASKATCHEWAN LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE
communities is key to curbing that trend over the long term. I have
travelled, for example, in the pouring rain on the clay-based SK
914, which extends past the community of Pinehouse, Sask., and
ends at the Key Lake Mine. This road, and many others in Northern
Saskatchewan, are impenetrable by many – including industry –
and therefore contribute to the isolationism and tragedy that bur-den
our human services ministries. While balancing our budget and
making prudent investment decisions are key, I believe that strate-gic
investments in infrastructure will generate a high rate of return
in terms of long-term cost savings in other areas.
Further to this line of thinking, I was the first candidate to com-mit
to reinstating the PST exemption on all insurance products. We
cannot penalize people for making responsible decisions to protect
themselves and their families from financial hardship.
As part of growing Saskatchewan as an economic powerhouse, I
would also like to see 100 per cent 4G LTE coverage across the prov-ince.
This digital infrastructure is fundamental to growing our tech
sectors and enabling innovation and process efficiencies for indus-try.
While agriculture and resources will always be an important
part of our provincial economy, our ongoing efforts to diversify must
stretch beyond manufacturing to include our tech sector. The tech
sector is the fastest growing sector on the TSX and Saskatchewan
needs to lead.
By Tina Beaudry-Mellor
TURKS / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
thinkbigmagazine.ca | Quarter 4 2017 | Think BIG 7