Premier Brad Wall has unveiled his plan to grow the province’s population to 1.2 million by 2020. The goal will require billions of dollars, tens of thousands more workers, and hundreds of millions in debt reduction.
Right now, just over a million people call Saskatchewan home. To increase that number by 20% over seven years, the provincial economy will have to keep firing on all cyclinders.
That plan for growth was unveiled at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Saskatoon today. The premier told the business crowd his government will invest $2.5 billion in infrastructure over the next three years. He also says the provincial debt will be cut by another $400 million by the year 2017.
Wall says in order for Saskatchewan to grow to his population target over the next seven years, the workforce will have to increase by 60,000 — and he is looking to the Aboriginal community for a lot of that growth:
“Our First Nations people suffer from an unemployment rate of 14%. The unemployment rate for non-Aboriginals is 4%. This gap must close.”
In addition to increasing training seats at SIAST for trades, the government says it will work with First Nations and Metis organizations to improve educational outcomes.
The goal is to improve Aboriginal graduation rates by 50% by 2020. Right now, the high school drop out rate is about 63%.
More details of the government’s plan will be unveiled and debated as Saskatchewan politicians head back to the legislature for the fall sitting, which begins later this month.