Saskatchewan is no longer the simple hewers of wood and haulers of water. We are starting to make some inroads in our resource-based economy in terms of attracting some head office honchos to our communities.
Granted, the oil patch hasn't really caught on to this new reality in what used to be referred to as the Wheat Province. We haven't used that moniker in decades even though the grain and oilseed industries are still prominent players here. It's just that we're so much more than that these days.
Last week Stantec announced that they would make Regina their centre of excellence for the work they are going to be doing with regards to the Boundary Dam clean coal project. Their modest offices on 11th Avenue will move from field unit status to a rather important hub of scientific and engineering activity while their research and administrative personnel will increase from 70 to around 200.
BHP Billiton, the group that was shut out of a proposed purchase of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan has now indicated they are setting up shop, including management and some decision makers, in Saskatoon while PotashCorp repatriates most of their executive team from Chicago, back to Saskatchewan.
Cameco, a major uranium player continues to be a huge player and companies like Agrium and Mosaic have made their presence and bigger paycheques and profits felt within the province for years.
The Light Source Synchrotron and all of its magnificence is put to work by the scientific community that is becoming increasingly prolific in Saskatoon and beyond with this world-renowned resource.
Pulse Traders in Regina continues to grow in cash flow and influence around the globe. The Farm Credit Corporation is proud to call Regina it's corporate headquarters, for good reason.
Of course we've lost a few with Viterra being one of the more prominent faces of the prairies that is shifting its focus. The venerable (former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool) and ever expanding grain handling and business complex is slowly but surely moving it's major sphere of influence from Regina over to Calgary, but hey, we can't convince all of them that they are better off here, rather than there. Perhaps they'll realize the error of their ways within the next few years and make a concerted effort to return.
As noted earlier, with the exception of a few junior production companies, most of the oil industry players, including the service companies, still prefer to send their corporate salaries and major profits into Calgary, Edmonton and Houston, but are still leaving Saskatchewan with some pretty healthy well-paying jobs and major field offices. So no one is singing the blues too loudly on that front.
Of course it would be nice to claim a few more of those $5 million CEO salaries and $500 million to $8 billion profit centres for Saskatchewan, but we can't expect to have it all.
With the advent of more coal and potash mining plus new diamond and gold mining arriving on our doorstep within the next few years, the future looks bright in terms of corporate influence being spread from Saskatchewan, instead of into Saskatchewan in the years to come.
We say all this without even taking into consideration our powerful and influential provincial Crown Corporations that enable so many of these other private and public companies to have success here thanks to their continued belief in this province. Let us not forget that our Crowns did the dirty work and set the table decades ago when all these other players weren't about to touch us with 10-foot poles, or didn't even exist. They found a way to make it work back then and now, so that everyone gets the opportunity to play and thrive in the new Saskatchewan.
