‘Oil-rich provinces’ outperform wealthiest countries

REGINA — A Conference Board of Canada report puts Canada’s three oil-rich provinces — Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador — on top of the world in terms of economic performance. The rest of Canada, not so much.

The Ottawa-based thinktank’s annual economic report card comparing 16 of the world’s richest countries puts Canada in fifth place overall, a single spot better than last year and behind Australia, Ireland, the United States and Norway.

That’s partly a function of Canada’s relatively stable growth rate, but also due to difficult recoveries in the eurozone and Japan.

Canada scores highly on economic growth and employment growth, although “poor grades on labour productivity, as well as inward and outward foreign direct investment, raise concerns about long-term prosperity,” the report cautions.

The report places the country’s three oil-producing provinces as the top performers with A-plus scores across such indicators as per capita income, economic growth, unemployment and productivity. They are the only jurisdictions rated to have A-plus economies.

Alberta is the “class leader,” says the report, boasting 2013 per capita income that was $ 10,000 higher than Norway, which is the top-ranked country in that indicator.

“Saskatchewan also receives A-plus grades on GDP growth and employment growth. Saskatchewan’s employment growth of 3.4 per cent in 2013 was the highest among all comparator regions, and its unemployment rate of four per cent was the second lowest after Norway, giving it an ‘A’ on this indicator,” the report said.

The common denominator for economic performance, in Canada at least, is oil and to a lesser degree other natural resources, which Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland all have in abundance. Where the province scores poorly is in employment growth with a jobless rate still hovering above 11 per cent.