Saskatchewan - Land of the Living Skies

[Cathy 25]

A province that we read very little about on this forum is Saskatchewan and yet it is the fastest growing province in Canada. Unemployment rates are the lowest in the country, just under 4%.

Saskatchewan has 2 major cities, Sasktaoon is the bigger of the 2 with a population of around 284 000 in July 2012 and the youngest median age, 34.9 years, of anywhere in the country. Regina, which is the provincial capital, is slightly smaller with a population of 220 000. In between the two are miles and miles of prairies, farmland and lakes. Farming, mining, and oil and gas are the major contributors to the province's economy. Oil and gas is the big growth industry as well as potash.

Saskatchewan has never privatized its major crown corporations so we have SaskPower for our electricity, SaskEnergy for our gas, SaskTel for our telephones and SGI for our insurance. The latter is really cool because we pay around $100 a month per vehicle. Our liquor stores are run by the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority and the water is controlled by SaskWater. All sounds very controlled but that is the way it is and it doesn't really affect our lives.

Housing prices are moderate although they have increased exponentially in the last few years because growth has been so rapid. You can still get a decent house for less than Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto.

I love living in a 10 minute town with big city stores and amenities. They only major store we lack here is Ikea and I have heard that has something to do with the fact that there is no lumber mill in Saskatchewan.

I just wanted to start a thread, not sure what people want to know but welcome to Saskatchewan, Home of the Roughriders, where all our blood runs green.

[Sideline 997]

Aah a fella st paddy for sure. the wide open spaces in SK must be a lot like the rolling hills of Ireland then? Maybe somewhat cooler and bigger though.

Thank you for the introduction. It is nice to read about other parts of our soon to be home country.

[Wolverine 180]

i love it .

Makes me want to go into farming.

[MartieKruger 25]

Sounds like you described Manitoba. Except, Winnipeg has an Ikea.

And we have MPI, Manitoba Hydro, etc.

[Charles&Deirdre 87]

Excited as we will be locating to this province quite soon!! We will be living in Rosetown, about 150kms from Saskatoon, the largest city (but not the capital) of Saskatchewan.

[Dorah 24]

We're also heading to a small town ( Raymore). Waiting for SINP to be approved and we've already signed the job offer. The town is 100 from Regina.

[Charles&Deirdre 87]

Some interesting websites for in and around Saskatchewan :

http://www.sceneinsaskatchewan.com/

http://www.thecombineforum.com/forums/search.php?searchid=3900761

http://www.usedstoon.com/classifieds/antique-furniture

http://www.expatsblog.com/blogs/canada

http://www.whattodoinsaskatoon.com/festivals.php

[Stefan 179]

I made 4 or so long work trips to Regina - all seasons - mostly I saw the inside of a control room, but the land around it remind me of the Highveld, especially around Standerton where you can see for a long way over grain crops. The guys at the plant I worked all either do hunting or farming or restoring cars as hobbies. Definitely reminds me of the Highveld.

The inside of Regina reminds me of some midwestern (US) city like DesMoine. Quite a lot of architecture for its size (pretty cool actually, especially the Wascana lake park area), some good restaurants and yet everything revolves around the farms outside the city.

Oh and down to earth people who say it like it is but know how to relax and get along. Also the number of First Nations people struck me - it's not so apparent in the GTA. What do you call yourselves from Regina - Reginans? or just Roughriders*?

Cheers,

Stefan

* for those who are giggling, Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team, not referring to Durex!