Economic and Co-operative Development Minister Janice MacKinnon said "Businesses across the province are creating new jobs — particularly full-time jobs — for Saskatchewan people. 

The Saskatchewan economy created an average of 6,400 more jobs over the first ten months of 2000, compared to the same period in 1999 ...Saskatchewan's unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 per cent in October, third lowest among the provinces, and significantly lower than the national rate of 6.3 per cent. Saskatoon had the lowest unemployment rate of major Canadian cities at 3.9 per cent. Regina was fourth at 4.4 per cent. While our job numbers fluctuate from month to month, the statistics have shown stable and solid growth for our province throughout the year,. . .The future is bright for our families and our young people as together we chart an economic course to create even more jobs for Saskatchewan.

The concluding statement by Honourable Janice MacKinnon that "The future is bright for our families and our young people as together we chart an economic course to create even more jobs for Saskatchewan." is totally false! And to say that Honourable MacKinnon has been a professor of Anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan, and to say that her husband Peter MacKinnon is the president of the University of Saskatchewan and former Dean of the Faculty of Law for this same university. It is outrageous to see politicians who use their highest education and knowledge not to teach but to mislead the people.

MacKinnon says that the Saskatchewan economy created an average of 6,400 more jobs over the first ten months of 2000, compared to the same period in 1999. I can tell you my readers that the number of people employed in Saskatchewan was 485,900 in October 1999, and they were 486,100 in October 2000(3): that is after one year we find an increase of employment of 200 souls!

MacKinnon says that Saskatchewan's unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 per cent in October and she is right on target with this number, but you know why this has happened? This decrease has happened not because the employment increased but because the labour force participation decreased in the last year; The labour force participation was 511,400 people in October 1999 and it was 509,600 in October 2000. This means that either some labour force left the province or that many people gave up in looking for employment.

MacKinnon says that the future is bright for our families and our young people as together we chart an economic course to create even more jobs for Saskatchewan while at the same time we experience one of lowest economic growth of any other province in Canada(4), while at the same time Regina(5) and Saskatoon experience the highest crime rates of any other city in Canada, while at the same time we have the highest infant mortality rate of any other province in Canada(6).

Honourable MacKinnon requires a reality check on the economic condition of the province and I hope that a good doctor and not a spin doctor would come soon to help her out!

References/Endnotes

Articles by Mario deSantis

The Saskatchewan Government: the continuing saga of our economic down fall, by Mario deSantis, October 6, 2000

1. Clark labels Chretien a liar, Juliet O'Neill, Mark Kennedy and Joan Bryden, Tuesday 7 November 2000, The Ottawa Citizen

2. SASKATCHEWAN ECONOMY CONTINUES TO SHOW JOB GROWTH, News Release, Government of Saskatchewan, Economic and Co-operative Development - 722, November 3, 2000

3. Labour Force Survey, October 2000, The Daily for: 2000-11-03, Statistics Canada, Jackie Godfrey An excerpt: With October's increase, employment in the province (Saskatchewan) was at about the same level as in October 1999.

4. Provincial gross domestic product, 1999, The Daily for: 2000-10-30, Statistics Canada, Jackie Godfrey

5. Criminal victimization, 1999, The Daily for: 2000-11-02, Statistics Canada, Jackie Godfrey

6. Saskatchewan: Infant mortality rate high, November 4, 2000, National Post