New figures from Statistics Canada show that the Sask. Party’s hike on PST is still hurting investment in the Saskatchewan construction industry, while other provinces are showing increases.
“The construction industry is vital to Saskatchewan’s economy, but what we are seeing is the Sask. Party’s PST hike having a negative effect on the industry and is putting many jobs at risk,” said NDP Finance Critic Cathy Sproule.
The rest of Western Canada saw growth in new housing construction while Saskatchewan saw a decrease. Our neighbors to the West in BC and Alberta saw a 17.5 and 9.5 per cent increase respectively in new housing construction compared to February 2017, while Saskatchewan saw a decrease of 10 per cent during that same time.
For non-residential building construction, Saskatchewan was the only province to post a quarterly decrease and saw investment decline by $14 million. For the same time period, BC saw an increase of $58 million and Alberta saw an increase of $12 million.
“With the Sask. Party piling on debt and having no plan to stimulate or grow the economy in this year’s budget, it’s no wonder Saskatchewan has one of the slowest rates of job growth in the entire country and more families are leaving to find better opportunities in other provinces,” Sproule said.