Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is in Toronto this week urging Canadians to look to the prairie province for a promising job opportunity.
He told CTV's Canada AM Tuesday morning that Saskatchewan has become a province of opportunity thanks to a rich resource centre and a boom in skill-related jobs.
There are currently about 10,000 jobs listed on a local job website, www.saskjobs.ca
Wall, along with Saskatchewan's Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris, will be at the National Job Fair and Training expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday to speak with Ontarians about giving the west a chance.
One third of the fair will feature jobs in Saskatchewan.
"We used to be a great province to be from. Now, we're a great place to be," Wall said.
Wall said that leading banks have predicted that Saskatchewan would lead the country in GDP growth. Early forecasts predict a similar outcome for next year, he said.
The success is mostly due to the province's abundance of natural resources such as oil, potash and uranium.
"A lot of it is driven with our resource centre and commodity prices which by the way is why our government will continue on being prudent because of what's going on in our global economy," Wall said. "Instability certainly affects demand for those resources."
He said the government is protecting Saskatchewan's economy by being prudent with their surplus, investing in infrastructure and lowering taxes.
The fragile state of the economy, especially in Ontario where thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost, makes it a good time to pounce on work opportunities elsewhere, he said.
"The timing is good," said Wall. "I mean it's never good if we're dealing with folks who are underemployed to their qualifications and skills. However, it's one of the strengths of the federation of our country. There's opportunity elsewhere in Canada, in this case Saskatchewan.
"We need more people, we have a people shortage in our province," he said. "It's part of the reason we're here in Toronto."
