Clark's Crossing Gazette - October 25, 2012 issue by Jenson Publishing

CLARK’S CROSSING GAZETTE • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Premier spells out plan to boost growth, population Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall recentlly released the “Saskatchewan Plan for Growth”, setting a goal of 1.2 million people living in Saskatchewan by 2020, outlining his government’s roadmap for getting there, and emphasizing that improved quality of life in Saskatchewan is the purpose of growth. “Over the past five years, Saskatchewan people have seen the benefits of a growing province - more jobs, more opportunities and more revenue to deal with the challenges of growth,” Wall said. “Those benefits are why we seek growth - so we

can improve our health system and shorten surgical wait times, so we can do more for the most vulnerable people in our province, so we can balance the budget and pay down debt, so we can have more career opportunities for our young people. That’s why growth is important and why we want it to continue.” Wall said the six core activities the government can undertake to foster continued growth are: Investing in infrastructure; Developing a skilled workforce; Ensuring competitive-

ness; Increasing export trade; Advancing the province’s natural resource strengths through innovation; and Maintaining sound fiscal management. Wall said the government will invest at least $2.5 billion in infrastructure over the next three provincial budgets and also announced an immediate infrastructure commitment of $150 million from the province’s Growth and Financial Security Fund. “This is on top of the $50 million announced earlier this month for a

number of priority highway projects,” Wall said. “This further $150 million will be used to establish the new SaskBuilds Fund and will leverage hundreds of millions of dollars more through financing innovation like public-private partnerships.” SaskBuilds is a new government organization designed to drive innovation in infrastructure financing, design and delivery. “This new funding will be used to develop partnerships with other levels of government and the private sector,” Wall

said. “Our government will work with Saskatchewan municipalities to develop a municipal infrastructure program funded through SaskBuilds. When used as a base for P3s, this initial $150 million will leverage hundreds of millions more for SaskBuilds infrastructure projects”. Wall said the $150 million commitment to SaskBuilds will leave just over $500 million in the Growth and Financial Security Fund (GFSF) to manage any unforeseen events that affect the province’s finances. “The foundation of our

growth plan will continue to be sound financial management, balanced budgets and debt reduction,” Wall said. “Our government will work to maintain a target amount of $500 million in the GFSF, with any excess amount used to invest in infrastructure and reduce debt.” The Saskatchewan Plan for Growth sets a goal of reducing the debt by another $400 million by 2017, which means the debt will have been cut in half - from $6.8 billion to $3.4 billion - in the 10 years since the current government took office in 2007.

CLARK’S CROSSING GAZETTE • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

School division funding stats online Saskatchewan residents now have access to additional information on school division funding. The Government of Saskatchewan is providing visitors to the Ministry of Education website with easy-toaccess information on government operating grants and education property taxes. The education funding chart allows users to select one of the 28 school divisions in Saskatchewan, or a provincial total, from a dropdown menu. Government operating grants and education property tax are provided on a year-by-year basis for each school division from 2007-08 to 2012-13. Users can access the funding chart through the following link at http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/edfunding-specific-sd. As announced in the budget in March, the Government of Saskatchewan’s overall funding to school divisions in 2012-13 will be $1.73 billion. This includes $1.13 billion in government operating grants, which represents an increase of 62 per cent since 2007-08. While government grants have increased, education property tax has decreased by 18 per cent during that same period. This aligns with the government’s commitment in 2009 to provide the largest reduction in the education portion of property taxes in Saskatchewan history. For more information on the Ministry of Education, please visit www.education.gov.sk.ca.

HAIR-RAISING RAMBLE

A porcupine enjoys the warm weather as it strolls through a field near the community of Hepburn in late October - before the recent snowfall. (Gazette photo by Bill Rewuski)

Join the celebration as Warman becomes

Saskatchewan’s Newest City

Saturday, Oct. 27- 2012 The Legends Centre

HIGHLIGHTS 12:30 Grand Opening of Legends Centre Ribbon Cutting

5:00

Warman Wildcats Initiation Game Warman Minor Hockey Association

12:45 City of Warman Declaration Signing Ceremony

6:30

City Celebration Cake Cutting

Dusk

Fireworks Extravaganza