Paul Martin ended up spending plenty of time talking about China when speaking at Anderson Pump House’s water systems tradeshow Wednesday last week at the Western Development Museum.
Martin is a prominent Saskatchewan business journalist and commentator and also the principal at Martin Charlton Communications. His speech to a mainly industry audience focused on facts and trends driving business, with advice “not miss the big trend.”
He began his presentation with a picture of the skyline of Shanghai – a nod to the importance of China in the growth of Saskatchewan’s economy.
Martin pointed to growth in total capital investment in Saskatchewan from the province from 2007 to 2017, rising from $7 billion to a peak of $20 billion in 2014 before settling back to $17 billion.
It’s driven by the “three Fs” – farm, fuel and fertilizer, Martin said, pointing to the growth of China’s middle class and their demand for protein.
“Farmers were put under pressure to increase their output because we had a market called China which had purchasing power,” said Martin.
The said he had covered a trade mission to the Asia-Pacific where the mayor of Guangzhou told him they were adding 6,000 jobs a day.
But he hadn’t connected the dots and realized what a great opportunity it meant for Saskatchewan in the long run.
Had he realized it, Martin told the crowd, he would have mortgaged everything he had and bought all the potash stock he could.
“I really missed this one – I had a front row seat!” said Martin.
“I missed the whole point and I just encourage you, don’t miss the point in your world. What big trends are going on?”
One trend he shared was “one belt, one road” – China’s massive infrastructure development being driven by China’s need to accommodate trade.
“If we are an exporting nation, we had better figure out how to make sure that infrastructure and transportation becomes the primary item,” he said.
Martin also said infrastructure is the province’s “next big play,” pointing to a $123 billion infrastructure deficit estimated by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
He pointed to recent stories about Saskatchewan communities operating under long-term water advisories – something of interest to the water systems professionals in the room.
“Does it really make sense to you in this era that we’re getting this?” said Martin. He called it “crazy” and something he expected “in the Middle Ages.”
Martin also pointed to the private sector as the ones who could solve the problem. He saw it as a great opportunity.
“We need to turn the private sector loose on this,” Martin said. “It’s part of this big picture trend that there is going to be billions and billions of dollars that’s going to be plugged into infrastructure. Figure out how you plug into that.”
