graduates remain in the North; consequently, their spending is retained within the northern part of the province. Few graduates own condos in Canmore or Whistler; none have yet retired in Kelowna or on Vancouver Island. The vast majority of NORTEP-NORPAC graduates’ earnings remain in Saskatchewan, mainly in the North. Given the socio-economic profile that emerges from a “no NORTEP-NORPAC” scenario, the creation and maintenance of the NORTEP-NORPAC programs becomes—in the colloquial language of the day—simply a “no brainer”!
5.5 Indirect benefits The impact analysis thus far has focused on direct costs and primarily on direct economic benefits of the NORTEP-NORPAC programs. We have noted the gross earnings of the graduates, for example, and calculated the taxation contributions they make in comparison to the costs associated with funding the NORTEP-NORPAC program. It will, however, be immediately apparent that direct costs and benefits are only part of the impact story. Although the direct-costs picture is quite dramatic, from a socio-economic perspective, it is really only a small part of a much larger picture—one that has a story of its own. Indirect benefits, in particular, combine with the direct benefits to create an impact that can only be described as truly massive: By moving to include indirect costs, rather than simply direct costs, we have moved from an acorn to an oak. The indirect benefits of economic development touch every aspect of a society. The indirect benefits act as a multiplier—an amplifier—for the direct benefits that we have already noted. Indirect benefits accrue from the total expenditures related to a program; in the case of NORTEP-NORPAC these are represented by program expenditures, as well as the earnings (and thus spending power) of its graduates. The two sources of expenditure combine synergistically; they work together to create an even more powerful impact than is apparent from what is merely a direct cost-benefits analysis. From a direct cost-benefits perspective, we have primarily taken into account the benefits to government derived from the taxation of graduate earnings. From an indirect perspective, however, we will want to examine the total impact of spending by the program in the form of salaries, goods and services, as well as the total income spending of the graduates (in the form of expenditures of all kinds). These expenditures together impact and benefit every aspect of an economy and a society. Total benefit needs to recognize not only the taxes paid by salaried employees and program graduates, but also the general Aboriginal role models provide inspiration even in impact of program and employees’ and the school hallways graduates’ spending.
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