When the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce was given a brief presentation on the 鈥楾ransportation and Growth Opportunities for the Yorkton Region鈥� recently it was the first public look at an initiative which could be hugely important to the local region鈥檚 economic future.
John Law is the man undertaking the study. He said transportation is critical for development as it is required to move anything made locally to markets 鈥渙utside Saskatchewan and other places around the country, and literally the world.鈥� He noted in Saskatchewan where 70 per cent of what is produced in exported, that need is critical.
This is not a surprising realization.
To begin with Saskatchewan is a province which has an economy very much built on commodities.
That is true of the cornerstone of agriculture, producing wheat, canola, beef and pulse crops to name a few.
As a province we also rely on potash, uranium and oil and gas as important components of the economy.
But, with a population which has always hovered around the one million mark we consume very little of what we grow, or dig out of the earth, and that means a need to export.
Locally we are aware that transportation is a major consideration for businesses picking a community to be their home. When Yorkton was picked by two companies as the site of large new canola crushing facilities, access to both major rail lines for getting product to market was a stated factor.
It was also important to the two plants that Yorkton is a city accessed by highways which literally spider web in every direction with the city as a hub. Those ribbons of asphalt mean easier access for farmers hauling product to the two canola plants.
It is a story shared by other businesses, from Grain Millers, to TA Foods, to the large inland grain elevators, and even to businesses such as Heartland Livestock.
And that is part of what the new study worked on, determining commonalities in business needs so that a collective approach could be undertaken to overcome shortfalls in local transportation infrastructure.
As examples, Law said they have found interest in a local source for containers for transport of products, the need for a spur line to better facilitate rail usage, trucking services and other businesses which could develop to meet both existing needs, and potential business growth.
That local business, and the City鈥檚 Economic development Committee are working in consort to determine needs and to create a database of areas where common transportation issues might be addressed collectively, is a major step in better preparing for the City鈥檚 and region鈥檚 future.
