Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
When Saskatchewan regions move forward, every step deserves a little celebration.
On November 3, the Action Southwest Business Networks Coalition (ASBNC) will host a public dinner in Shaunavon with the theme Determining Our Destiny. The event is intended to be a celebration of the recent Engaging Industry Innovation strategy’s completion, according to ASBNC’s Project Manager Sandra Blyth.
“The strategy aims to facilitate the establishment of a world-class business environment in the Southwest while retaining, attracting and encouraging investments in our capacity to create wealth,” she says.
“ASBNC’s strategy was initiated in November last year, as a bottom-up, collaborative effort with a mission to grow a greater Southwest Saskatchewan. This broad-based regional initiative is all about crossing boundaries and creating a united economy in the Southwest by beginning to think regionally.”
Thinking regionally and applying collaborative practice is the key to building regional advantages and achieving a sustainable and prosperous economy, believes Blyth and her colleagues.
Over 120 leaders from across the region’s communities and industries agreed it was time for a new way of thinking, and to act on that.
“Together, we can shape our regions’ next steps in development,” Blyth says. “As the development of this initiative has clearly shown, the people of the Southwest care deeply about their region and are willing to move forward together.”
The celebration will highlight the need to build beef processing and packing plants in the region, as well as the Cypress Agri Energy ethanol plant project and the Wind Power Interpretive Centre Project in Gull Lake.
Reeve of the RM of Gull Lake Les Potter keeps about 300 cows and seeds around 3,000 acres in the area. He would sure love to see the Interpretive Centre project take off.
“There are 33 wind towers visible from the Trans Canada Highway,” says Potter. “Many people stop in town and ask us a lot of questions. We think building an interpretive center like this makes sense. It would feature six to eight display panels focusing on wind energy, but also on the grasslands environment, the Cypress Hills, the cattle industry in the region and farming in general.”
Potter figures the interpretive centre would attract thousands who would normally just drive by Gull Lake without stopping.
As a proponent of the Engaging Industry Innovation strategy, Potter hopes local passion for the region’s economic aspirations catches on like prairie fire.
Call (306) 778-6445 or send an e-mail to manager.bnc@sasktel.net to secure tickets for the November 3 dinner.
For more information, contact:
Sandra Blyth
Project Manager
Action Southwest Business Networks Coalition
(306) 778-6445
http://www.actionsouthwest.com
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