• If small town Saskatchewan is ever to experience growth it might have to steal a page from the Province’s playbook.

Saskatchewan recently came under fire for its Calgary campaign to entice workers, industry and business to relocate from Alberta, citing lower property taxes and housing costs as examples of the benefits.

The tactics shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Provinces and cities have been raiding one another since time began. Our Capital city is a prime example, having landed its share of plums over the years with the help and blessing of the Provincial Government.

And it’s not just larger cities whose loss has been Regina’s gain, as witness the absurd decision to locate the offices of Prairie Valley School Division, which is entirely rural, in that city. What that serves to do is to insulate virtually the entire administration from any effects of school closures or class discontinuance.

Consolidation of health care services and even the fact that casinos were deemed illegal until after Regina was awarded one, are other indications of where the power lies in this province.

Well, there are things that can be done just as well here as they can there. And more cheaply. It is time for smaller centres to identify these industries, however small or large, that are for now located in Regina and Saskatoon, and show them the error of their ways. Their staffs can actually own their homes here within a reasonable length of time; golf and curl, shop and dine within minutes of their easy chairs. Their kids can play ball in daylight, and hockey after breakfast, rather than after the late late show. We have much to sell, so what in the world is holding us back?

by Michael G. Kearns