Oct / Nov 2010
Just where are we headed?
It is interesting to find out where our province is heading economically. Up, down or flat. Reading helps. A Royal Bank economist says that Manitoba economic growth will be 3.8 per cent in 2011, compared too two per cent this year. That’s up but still flat. No potash. No oil. Just power and talk. A lot of talk. Hard to export. What to do about it?
One newspaper editorial writer claims that despite tax dollar construction touted by government officials and road building, hydro sites, new private significant businesses are not flocking to Manitoba creating new products, services and jobs. In fact, there is no line up despite all the bluster of the chambers of commerce, the government, and development boards who like us to believe all the rhetoric they throw at us.
It’s just not on. For all the talk, there isn’t much, except, the former Govenor of California is coming to town and we have to pay big money to hear him. Full of wind, Arnie is.
Then, there is the provincial government financial sink hole.
The civil service is the largest tax supported employer providing 27,000 jobs according to The Manitoba Government Employees Union. Then, nurses, firefighters and police. A few more thousands on the billion dollar guaranteed payroll. No worries there. We’ll pick up the tab.
The City of Winnipeg is required to disclose all wage and benefit payments paid out to any employee who earns $50,000 or more in a given year. In 2008, 4,453 workers, including Mayor Sam Katz and all 15 city councillors, made the list. The highest city salaries to non-retiring staff are earned by senior administrators, not politicians. Department heads earned anywhere from $119,000 to $155,000 in 2008, while Mayor Sam Katz took home $114,053 and the salary range for city councillors was $60,153 to $75,866. Politicians, receive a third of their salaries tax-free. Nice job.
In 2008, the City of Winnipeg employed anywhere from 8,440 to 9,835 full-time, part-time, casual, temporary and seasonal employees. The city issued a total of 11,267 T-4 slips at the end of the year.
Well, small business is bigger than all of this. In fact of the 600,000 available workers, one third are employed in private business with 50 or fewer employees. They don’t see large salaries, dental plans, pensions, nice cafeterias. Most take a bag or a box, if they have lunch at all. These people and those who own the small businesses have come through a frightening period in the world economy and don’t let anyone tell you they haven’t suffered.
In this issue we feature a number of small business entrepreneurs and tell their stories. For as long as I can remember I have had a special interest in such people and their place in our community. Small business is a constituency in itself and wherever I go there is an immediate dialogue about how it’s going. They always say “it’s going.” One could say the same for the entire provincial economy. But the real question is where?
Ritchie Gage, Editor-in-chief
Feedback: ritchie.gage@shaw.ca
