Legislative Report
(19 June 2013)

Bright Future for Young People

With graduation upon us, the future has never been brighter for young people in Saskatchewan. The latest population numbers reveal that in the first four months of 2013, we grew by more than 4,000 people to a new record high of 1,093,880. Saskatchewan remains the place to be in Canada for career opportunities and a great quality of life.

For far too many years, leaving Saskatchewan for school or career after graduating from high school was as much a part of spring in our province as seeding. Not only were young people leaving by the hundreds, our economy was one of the weakest in the country and we had a government that seemed disinterested in doing anything about it.

Fast forward to Saskatchewan in 2013. Our economy is one of the strongest in Canada, our population is higher than it’s ever been and there are opportunities for young people. Unlike the NDP, your Saskatchewan Party government is taking action to ensure they have the tools they need to take advantage of those opportunities. This way, they can start their careers and families at home.

One of the first things we did was introduce Canada’s most aggressive Graduate Retention Program (GRP). Under the GRP, post-secondary grads can access a refundable tax credit of up to $20,000 – basically allowing them to recover the entire cost of an undergraduate degree. There’s also the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship. New high school grads can access up to $500 a year over four years, for a total of $2,000, to go toward the cost of their post-secondary education. We are also taking action to help parents save for their kids’ education in the form of the Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings (SAGES) program. Our government will provide a contribution to Registered Education Savings Programs (RESP) at a rate of 10 per cent of annual contributions up to a maximum of $250 per year.

Under our government, post-secondary institutions are receiving more support. Funding for the U of R, the U of S, SIAST and regional colleges has increased every year since 2007. There are significantly more training seats to specifically address challenges around the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals and skilled tradespeople such as welders or electricians. With an anticipated need for 60,000 more workers by 2020 as identified in our Growth Plan, we taking action to ensure that need is met.

All these investments were made possible by Saskatchewan’s historic growth, which is due to the hard work you do. But growth for the sake of growth isn’t enough. It’s what you do with that growth that’s important. Our government is committed to using the benefits of growth to improve the quality of life for all Saskatchewan people.

That’s why this summer MLAs are again going across the province to consult with you – to find out what’ s important to you and what you think we should do with the benefits of growth. Together, we can keep the Saskatchewan Advantage.

 

Past Legislative Reports