Alberta’s boom started the trend, and now it seems Saskatchewan is poised to pick up just as Alberta levels off.
Red-hot Saskatchewan will grow at a 4.2 per cent clip, while Manitoba's economy will expand by 3.6 per cent in 2008, the Conference Board estimated. Their results are being driven by high oil and gas prices and soaring demand for those provinces' grain crops.
"Attention this year has shifted away from Alberta to Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as high prices for nearly all of their natural resources will make them the two fastest-growing economies in Canada,” said Glen Hodgson, the Conference Board of Canada's chief economist.
It is indeed a good time to be out west.
That being said, one is inclined to speculate what sort of political sentiments a downtrodden Ontario and a booming west will create. While the issue of ownership of a resource like oil is something of a difficult issue, let there be no doubt that westerns will be slighted as their taxes flow disproportionately east. Likewise, count on Ontarians demanding an ever increasing slice of said ‘national resources’.
I believe at this point it may be easy to underestimate the effects of these sentiments. But watch closely, as the gap widens, time may reveal some very remarkable changes. Celestial Junk Blog