during the winter or labour disputes at sea-ports
do nothing but cripple business.
Speaking of business, Canada’s 10-year,
$120-billion infrastructure plan sees $20 bil-lion
set aside for each of social infrastructure,
green infrastructure and transit infrastruc-ture.
The remaining $60 billion is dedicated to
the already-existing Building Canada Plan.
Law argues that even more money
should be pumped into trade and transpor-tation
infrastructure because “it provides
the greatest economical and financial re-turn.”
Plus, it enhances the ability to access
a greater share of the market.
“It is a category of investment amongst
the various important infrastructure choic-es
that governments have to make that is
at the heart of our economic well being,” he
said. “It’s associated with a big chunk of our
national income.”
How does Canada regain a competitive
edge in the international markets? We need
to invest in infrastructure like roads and
highways. But not just any old path of as-phalt
will suffice. Increasing attention is
being paid to key economic corridors and
supply chains that are of the greatest signif-icance
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in export movements.
The significance of road and rail transpor-tation
to the Canadian and Saskatchewan
economies, as well as the general move-ment
of people back and forth, still consti-tutes
the primary arteries for movement
of trade.
The United States remains Canada’s best
trading partner, with close to 75 per cent of
trade activity with our neighbours to the
south. It’s estimated that 1.7 million jobs
in the U.S. are directly tied to trade with
Canada, and 2.5 million jobs in Canada are
directly linked to trade with the U.S.
In a more local context, this is true to even
greater extent because Saskatchewan is a
landlocked province and probably the most
trade-dependent province in the country.
Close to 70 per cent of Saskatchewan’s GDP
is exports.
Law says there has been a substantial in-crease
– nearly 200 per cent in the past de-cade
– in commercial truck traffic moving
north and south, with incremental volume
increase moving east and west over that
same time.
“If you’re trying to get product to some
of those grain elevators or canola crush-ing
plants, you’re likely starting in a rural
FEATURE
location to eventually join the provincial
network to get to a rail location which even-tually
connects to overseas markets,” said
Law. “It’s at the crux of our economic re-quirements
in terms of trade infrastructure
that we have a sound network of roads.”
Roads that allow for Saskatchewan’s
valuable exports to travel to rail or port
should continue to be the focus when it
comes to government spending, Law says.
Despite challenging financial times in
the province and across the prairies, in-vesting
in trade and transport infrastruc-ture
could be one means of boosting a
sluggish economy.
“Government resources may be restrict-ed
right now; that doesn’t mean that our
economy doesn’t need to continually be
fed,” said Law. “Infrastructure, because it
pays such a positive return, is one of the
ways we can do this in the right way.
“It’s very important that we don’t lose
track of what’s going on around us with
respect to trade and transportation infra-structure.
When the time comes, and it will,
we’re going to be able to support the econ-omy
in a way that will allow us to come out
on the other side of these difficult times.”
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