Paul Martin Commentary
The role Saskatchewan is playing in the national economy these days is coming into sharper focus with each fresh forecast issued by the chartered banks. The latest is BMO Bank of Montreal.
They have us firmly in second spot among the provinces behind Alberta. Interestingly, in this one Newfoundland and Labrador as an oil producer is not sitting in the top three.
But Saskatchewan is projected to experience economic growth of 2.0-percent this year. Then we’ll pick up steam with expansion of 2.3-percent next year when BC will join the top three as western Canada is clearly the growth region right now.
BMO’s forecast departs from the other banks on one front, though. It tracks government balance sheets, a particularly timely issue given the fact that Saskatchewan tabled its provincial budget last week and much of the budget reaction centred on the debt and deficit.
BMO’s report shows Saskatchewan with the second-best balance sheet, behind Alberta. our deficit for the next fiscal year is roughly one-percent of GDP, less than half the level for the feds.
