Economic recovery among premier’s hopes for 2021

Along with getting the COVID-19 vaccine out to everyone in the province, Premier Scott Moe says the government will be focusing on jumpstarting Saskatchewan’s economic recovery in 2021.

Moe said those are the top two things he’s looking forward to.

He put the vaccine plan and rollout first, a situation he’s very optimistic about given the number of vaccine possibilities in talks with Health Canada.

“I’m quite positive on the fact that, not only are we going to receive at least the number of vaccines that have been allocated to us in the first quarter — that’s enough for 101,000 Saskatchewan residents — but I think it is possible that those numbers may increase,” said Moe.

Moe said getting more vaccines and getting them to the province’s population quicker is how we get to “the finish line” quicker and how we start getting back to normal.

The other focus — one Moe is also optimistic about — is Saskatchewan’s economic recovery after the pandemic and potential growth as well.

“When you look at how Saskatchewan engages and the products that we provide to the world — the food, the fuel, the fertilizer — as that global economic engine starts to rev up it only stands to reason that Saskatchewan can be there to offer competitively priced, very sustainable products to the world,” he said.

Moe said that’s why the province is already talking to industry and its trade partners, so the province’s exports can keep the market share they had and potentially gain some as well.

According to Moe, the economic recovery is both an opportunity in the new year and a challenge.

Moe said in two years, he hopes that people aren’t sitting around talking about how the province is still struggling after COVID, but that they’re talking about the efficiently rolled-out vaccine program and that Saskatchewan was there to provide everything the world needed when the global economy started back up.

“Yes, COVID-19 was a challenge, but the opportunities that came to our communities and to our families post-COVID-19 were most certainly beneficial for the province and for all living here,” is what Moe hopes people will be able to say.

The province’s odyssey challenging the carbon tax through the courts could come to an end in 2021. Saskatchewan’s lawyers made their arguments before the Supreme Court in the fall and a decision is expected in the coming year.

Moe said he’s confident in the government’s position that the tax is unconstitutional, but if the court does come down on the side of the federal government, there are still things the province can do to assert its autonomy and minimize the effect the tax has on the people of Saskatchewan.