Saskatchewan politicians will again swoop into a recession-ravaged Ontario to entice as many workers as they can to go west, their second attempt in six months.
“We may not have a professional hockey team, but then neither do you,” Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco says with a laugh. “I’m just kidding.”
Last time, the politicians tried to woo Toronto’s ethnically diverse Thorncliffe Park with a barbecue during the Ramadan fast.
Now, the province is targeting university and college grad-uates nationwide: Up to $20,000 if you come to Saskat-chewan. The catch? You have to stay there — for at least seven years.
The initiative is a tiered system designed to reverse the flow of educated workers from the province. Rob Norris, Saskatchewan’s minister for advanced education, employment, and labour, said: “For the first time in a very long time we’re seeing population growth in Saskatchewan.”
Fiacco, along with Premier Brad Wall and Saskatoon Mayor Donald Atchison, will be coming to Toronto later this month and in early April to attend a job fair with Saskatchewan companies.
Atchison said their province has managed to avoid the worst effects of the recession.
“Saskatoon has one of the most diversified economies in all of Canada,” he said, listing various industries and billions of dollars of investments in mining and potash.
