For this month's News Watch column I thought I would try to do something a little more upbeat.
Among the good news stories being touted by local officials has been the strength of the overall economy. We keep hearing the Battlefords is the place to be and bustling with opportunity. This is what I hear from Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Saskatchewan officials. This is what I hear from all the positive people on the city and town councils, who like to crow about how well the place is doing.
But talk is cheap. People don't want to hear some pro-business "party line," they want to know how things really are so they can decide whether to come here or not.
So instead of spin, I'll weigh in with some real thoughts of what the economy is like for people working in the media field in this part of the world.
The media field has been in a lot of turmoil. Rporters have been boosted out a lot of jobs in a lot of places. Ontario has been particularly hard hit.
Having said that, it seems to me that things are not so bad if you are looking for media jobs in the region I work in, the Northwest. I'll give you an example of why I feel this way.
As you know from my last column, I went to the Premier's Dinner in Lloydminster - the one where the premier didn't show up because fog at the airport.
At the convention hall, I sat at the media table with a bunch of young journalists who had come in from around the region to report the story. These were journalists based in places like Lloydminster, Meadow Lake and elsewhere.
It was interesting to learn where some of them were from originally. These were people who had enjoyed life in Ontario, who held degrees from Western Ontario or Ryerson, and they had moved west to launch their careers. I could relate, because I got my journalism education at the University of Western Ontario and gained a significant chunk of my early experience in that province.
They talked about other colleagues who had moved to places like Cold Lake, Alta. to build their careers.
It reminded me of the situation I encountered when I worked in Portage la Prairie, Man. The entire reporting staff of the paper had previously lived in Ontario. One of the radio guys I met there had lived in Toronto and was always bragging about how great life was now that he was away from the high costs of living and the crummy one-room apartments there.
It was the same story in Lloydminster: "used to live in Ontario, too much competition for jobs, had to get out of there to launch my career." Once in the West, they were finally able to build careers in the field they wanted to be in, and they were mighty happy about that.
But they weren't without complaints. The pay in these places, for one, is never enough. Then there's the lack of shopping opportunities, or the lack of concerts to see. The guys lamented the state of their social lives. "No girls."
That's one of the realities employers in this region have to face and a reason they may not get as many applications as they'd like from journalism graduates. When many of them look at life in smaller communities out West, the automatic response from a lot of them is (shudder) "it's not the city, it's dull and the place is cold!"
There's a real feeling among a good many "hip" Toronto folks that life out West is terrible and that the West is full of rednecks.
Actually, this is a good thing for applicants, because it cuts down on the people applying and makes it easier to get a job. It's also good for employers, because it weeds out all the arrogant and pretentious Toronto people from coming. Everyone wins in the end.
But even newcomers willing to come here are making a sacrifice to move far away from places they probably thought or hoped they would be living, away from their family and friends and familiar surroundings. They must put up with a lot of things.
If I had a message for people in the communities throughout our region it's this: when new people come in, roll out the welcome mat. Help them get over the homesickness and culture shock they are bound to experience, so that they will stick it out in your community. Heck, they're giving your community a chance in the first place - do the same for them.
Now, I have a message to new journalists in Ontario who are considering this part of the country to launch their careers.
All the talk from Brad Wall and the local politicians about the state of the economy here is no line of bull. Times are good here, and I say this because of all the people I've seen out there who've moved from Ontario to find good opportunities in northwest Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta.
They took a chance, and are reaping the rewards for it. They're finding out they owe a debt of gratitude to folks here for giving them an opportunity to build careers in the fields they were trained for.
So if you happen to be stuck in Ontario flipping burgers instead of reporting the news, consider this region - the land of opportunity.
Be sure to bring a parka.
