PREMIER OF SASKATCHEWAN

LEGISLATIVE BUILDING REGINA CANADA S4S 0B3

Canadian-ASEAN Business Forum

Singapore, October 8, 2013 Premier Brad Wall’s Keynote Address

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Premier Brad Wall

Canadian-ASEAN Business Forum

PREMIER WALL: Thank you very much, V.J., for that very, very kind

introduction.

High Commissioner Grant, Your Excellencies, Ministers,

Special Guests that are here. It‟s a great pleasure to be here on behalf of the

people of Saskatchewan and of our delegation. It‟s a real pleasure to be

introduced by V.J. He didn't talk too much about his project. It‟s an

important one in our province. It‟s an important one for one of our larger

centres. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is home to the new Agricore facility.

Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and Singapore are cities not

often grouped together.

(Laughter)

You won't find them in a lot of travel brochures side-by-side, but V.J. and his

team has brought them together. More than that, ladies and gentlemen,

V.J.‟s corporation, Agricore, is responsible for the sourcing of $250 million

annually, a quarter billion, annually in agri-products alone from Canada

which should underscore, if there was a need to underscore, the importance

of this relationship between Canada and the ASEAN countries.

Former economic advisor to President Obama, Larry

Summers, called the modernization of Asian economies one of the most

important developments in the world -- in the world‟s economic history,

ranking alongside the renaissance and the industrial revolution. Some might

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think that to be hyperbole unless they've been to Jakarta. Some might think

that to be a rhetorical flourish unless they've seen Manila lately or have read

about the kinetic economic energy in Ho Chi Minh City or Kuala Lumpur or

Singapore. When you see the growth firsthand, you understand with clarity

that it‟s not hyperbole at all. However, ladies and gentlemen, it seems to me

that sometimes we in Canada of late have been acting like it might be

hyperbole.

The former Secretary General of the ASEAN, who's here,

Dr. Pitsuwan, said in September 2012, “Canada has goodwill in the region

stemming in part from the aid efforts of the Canada International

Development Agency in the 1970s and „80s, but it hasn‟t had the sustained

presence since to really build on it.” The quote goes on. He says, “The name

is there, but you don‟t see the sustained effort of trying to project it out.”

Today there is a dynamic relationship between Canada and

ASEAN. The progress though from our relationship, I think, right now

comes mostly from momentum and some important developments led by

our government, and I'll get into those in a moment. But right now I think

most of the progress is the result of momentum, momentum caused by

growing economies, Canada‟s economy comparatively strong in terms of

GDP growth for western countries. The ASEAN real GDP growth rate was

5.5 percent in 2012. ASEAN‟s population growth was roughly 1.4 percent. In

our province about the same, by the way. For Canada nationally, 0.78

percent, but growth nonetheless.

We have many goods and services that the other side needs.

In the last five years ASEAN‟s annual export growth rate to Canada was 9.5

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percent. That‟s pretty significant. Canada‟s to ASEAN nations was 5.4

percent. That‟s momentum. But relying on momentum has never been good

enough for Canada and I'm pretty sure it‟s not good enough for Southeast

Asia, so I want to perhaps cause a little trouble tonight.

I want to offer respectfully some specific encouragement to

the Government of Canada, to the provinces, including to our own

government, and to our businesses that we would work a little bit harder on

this relationship because of the potential that it represents for our economy

and for the relationship as a whole.

We would encourage, for example, our federal government

to work to appoint a permanent mission to the ASEAN, just like the United

States and Japan and China, and just like we have done in Canada with

respect to the European Union. Our Prime Minister has made great progress

in this regard in 2009 with the appointment of an ambassador, but there's

some shared duties there with Indonesia.

It would also be our encouragement for Canada to prioritize

free trade negotiations with ASEAN. ASEAN has shown its leadership

capacity and compromise in order to secure free trade agreements with a

very diverse set of nations, including South Korea and Japan and India,

China, Australia, New Zealand. We need to be on that list, ladies and

gentlemen, in Canada.

Currently our country has not signed any free trade

agreements anywhere in Asia. We've got two investment protection

agreements in ASEAN countries, in Thailand and the Philippines, but there's

clearly more work to do. We congratulate the Prime Minister of our country

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and our federal government‟s efforts to ensure that Canada‟s part of TPP.

Now, perhaps Canada can encourage and help facilitate ASEAN countries to

join and participate because that‟s where our interests lie.

Canada also needs to continue to ensure that our doors are

open to ASEAN investment. Some of it‟s been talked about already this

evening.

The Petronash investment in our country, in British

Columbia, is very important. And look what it led to here just a few days ago

when the Prime Minister of our country met with his counterpart and now

we have a $36 billion investment headed to British Columbia as a result of

Petronash‟s continued investment and interest in L&G. If this is what is

possible today in the current situation, what is possible tomorrow if we could

develop and sustain a dynamic relationship informed by a formal trade

agreement?

There are some more things we can do better, including at

the provincial level. Both federal and provincial governments can provide

leadership for a greater focus on equipping young Canadians with the

language skills, the cultural awareness required to become more actively

engaged in Southeast Asia on the ground.

Premiers need to be more engaged. Last year we were in

Indonesia as part of a similar fall trip that ended here in Singapore. The year

before of all of Indonesia‟s imports from Canada, our province, only three

percent of Canada‟s population, represented 40 percent and yet I was the

first premier to visit, to say, “Thank you,” and together with our businesses

to pursue perhaps further opportunities.

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We were just in the Philippines. We arrived here today, the

first visit to the Philippines in 16 years even though they represent fully a

third of all of the newcomers to our province to help us deal with the labour

shortage we have in Saskatchewan. Premiers need to be more engaged in

ASEAN.

Greater Canadian ASEAN innovation collaboration is also

possible. An International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada

program with ASEAN would be a positive step in this regard. ISTPC

provides funding for private sector-driven research between Canadian firms

and their counterparts in Israel, India, Brazil and China.

And this is important. If we are wanting to focus on the

long-term in terms of this relationship, then the federal government and

provincial governments and companies need to be concerned about properly

servicing the markets we already have. We do need to be concerned about

logistics, V.J. You are right. I'm not sure any representatives of our rail

companies were here, but they ought to be because we will miss out on huge

opportunity in this part of the world for our own economy if we don‟t get the

fundamentals right of logistics, for example. Our companies need to be

concerned about quality as well and I think that‟s an important message that

could come from this council and this forum back to them in Canada. We'll

certainly be providing the message.

There is a lot of reason for optimism about the relationship,

lots of good developments of late. The TPP, you've already mentioned.

Canada did appoint its first ambassador to ASEAN in 2009, credit to the

Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We are working as a

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country on an FTA with Thailand. In 2010, Canada signed the Treaty of

Amity in co-operation in Southeast Asia, also positive. In 2011, Canada and

ASEAN signed a joint agreement on trade and investment. Nearby, we‟re

working to close the FTA with Korea, South Korea, and open up negotiations

with Japan in the neighbourhood.

Currently there are 10,000 students from ASEAN in

Canada. In 2012, Canada admitted more than 37,000 permanent residents

from ASEAN countries and nearly 18,000 temporary foreign workers.

Last year Canada exported five billion to ASEAN and

imported 10.8 billion, up from 3.8 billion and 9.4 billion respectively in

2007. At present, ladies and gentlemen, Canadian firms have over 11 billion

invested in the ASEAN region. That's greater than our total combined

investments in China and India.

And then there's the establishment of our council. I want to

congratulate the volunteers and the directors of the council for putting

together this first forum. I want to congratulate, even though he's not here --

he'll be here tomorrow -- Minister Fast for his vision and work in this regard.

There is current momentum, but we ought not to be satisfied by the current

momentum.

In a paper written not too long ago by Edwards and Takino

and Hampson and Bernie (ph), they lauded the Prime Minister and his

government‟s recent efforts that we've just canvassed here, but he said -- but

the paper says this importantly, “Both business and government efforts to

harness these new economic opportunities are still largely unfocused and

episodic.” Within Canada, Saskatchewan should take a leadership role to try

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to change that and here's why.

Year after year Saskatchewan exports more to the ASEAN

region than any other province in Canada. In 2012, Saskatchewan accounted

for 29 percent of Canada‟s exports to ASEAN, $1.44 billion. ASEAN is our

third largest export market right behind the United States and China. Thirty

percent of our newcomers, as I've already noted, come from this particular

region. So if Canada‟s efforts have been unfocused and episodic,

Saskatchewan deserves at least 30 percent of the criticism. We'd like to do

something about it. We'd like to focus very much on the long-term.

Shortly after our government was elected in 2007, we noted

publicly that about 60 percent of our exports were headed to the United

States. Most provinces would have numbers that are much bigger. In fact,

Saskatchewan is the second least dependent on the United States for an

export market and still it‟s 60 percent. We said at the time we need to

diversify our export markets. We really need to focus on where the growth is

and that‟s brought us to this part of the world. The United States will always

be, I think, Canada‟s largest trading partner. We'll always want to tend to

that relationship. We'll always want to be stewards of that relationship, but

we need to also remember what Wayne Gretzky said about his success. He

was asked once about why he was so successful or a great hockey player. He

said, well, he didn't focus so much about where the puck is. He was worried

about where the puck is going to be. The puck is in this part of the world and

has been for some time.

So as for the Province of Saskatchewan, we've undertaken a

number of steps. We've released a Growth Plan that features prominently

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international engagement specifically in this region of the world. We've

established a brand new ASEAN Advisory Council to the Premier and we

have Lionel LaBelle, who's on that Council here, and Steve Dekker from

Canpotex who's also on the Council as well. We‟re asking that Council

actually to consider whether or not we should have -- and I think I kind of

know the answer to this -- but a permanent presence here in this particular

market. We've established a brand new international scholarship program

for our students around business, around international business. And we‟re

focusing our trade missions in this region, both their frequency and their

intensity. And by the way, for our part, we will continue to encourage our

federal government, our Prime Minister and Minister Fast, to continue with

the work that‟s underway today, to build that energetic and lasting Canadian

effort in the ASEAN, a relationship, by the way, that should extend beyond

trade because there are other issues that we can perhaps be helpful with in

the region.

Full disclosure. Saskatchewan has a great self-interest in

the relationship. You saw it on the video. We are blessed with the resources

that allow us to export food and fuel and fertilizer in biblically proportion

levels. Our province is more than 18 million hectares of cultivated farmland.

That‟s an area larger than Cambodia. Twenty-two percent of the world‟s

canola seed exports, 20 percent of the world‟s canola oil exports, 24 percent

of the world‟s flaxseed exports, 26 percent of the world‟s mustard seed

exports. We don‟t actually process the mustard at all. We export it and

others do that, including in this region. We import it back and then 26

percent of it ends up on my tie.

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(Laughter)

Twenty-nine percent of the world‟s oat exports, durum‟s 37 percent, dry peas

37 percent, lentils 49 percent. We are the world‟s largest producer of potash.

We have a great company and Canpotex is a sponsor for the forum that‟s

selling that potash right in this area. In fact, we supplied 65 percent of the

potash used in the ASEAN region last year, half of the potash used in the

Philippines, and we say thank you. Fifty-six percent of the potash used in

Indonesia and we say thank you. And 39 percent of the potash in Malaysia

and we say thank you.

Our energy resources, as was noted, include rich -- the

richest uranium deposits in the world. We account for 15 percent. Ladies

and gentlemen, our federal government, under the leadership of the Prime

Minister, has now concluded two nuclear co-operation agreements, one with

China, one with India, very robust civilian nuclear markets and so we expect

to see good things in our uranium industry. And to be prepared for that,

we‟re lowering royalties in the uranium sector. We announced that in our

last budget. We understand that government has to do its part. We've got to

make sure we have competitive taxes -- tax rates and competitive

regulations. It‟s very much a part of our growth agenda as well.

And we do have oil as the video also noted. We export more

oil to the United States than Russia or Kuwait. We hope to potentially have

oil sands development, but right now our oil production is exclusively

conventional.

Natural resources, that‟s our strength. I think that‟s why

we‟re 29 percent of the imports to the region, but we‟re looking to build the

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next economy and find partners to do so on the strength of those natural

resources, on the strength of our agricultural production. We are currently

leaders in enhanced oil recovery.

We are leaders in agricultural research, always looking for

partners, always looking to learn. In our larger city of Saskatoon, you'll find

more than 700 scientists working in 30 facilities focused on agricultural

science, including the Global Institute of Food Security, a brand new

institute we are funding together with the Potash Corporation of

Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan to develop new solutions

to feed a hungry world.

Scientists are doing leading-edge nuclear research also at

the Nuclear Innovation Centre of Excellence at that same university.

And south of Regina -- and you saw it on the video -- you'll

find the Boundary Dam 3 Project and, folks, we think this is a game-changer.

This is the world‟s first large-scale commercial power plant with a

functioning fully-integrated carbon capture system. It'll capture one million

tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. We'll sell it. We've actually sold all the CO2.

Those million tonnes are all sold to oil companies who will use the CO2 for

enhanced oil recovery, drive down the price of generating that power to be

comparable to combined-cycle natural gas. It‟s a $1.24 billion project that‟s

very much a part of our innovation agenda.

SaskPower, our electrical utility that‟s sponsoring the

project, has established a consortium, by the way, to share information on

the project with interested parties and there are many interested parties

because coal‟s going to be with us for a while and we need to ensure that we

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have cleaned it up. There is technology out there. It‟s right in Southeast

Saskatchewan. We invite you to come have a look.

So tonight the Province of Saskatchewan has a respectful

but urgent message about the ASEAN to our government, to our country, to

the provinces, to the companies. We intend to deliver that message. We

have work to do ourselves in Saskatchewan to practice what we preach. We

intend to do that. We have a story to tell here. We intend to tell it. We have

a relationship here for which we should be grateful. We intend to say thank

you and say it often. And we have mutual economic opportunities to explore.

We intend to find them. And maybe most importantly of all, there is a

growing familiarity and warmth that we have with each other so that we may

proceed with trust and respect, something that‟s very powerful, something

that doesn't necessarily flow from GDP or pie charts or stats. It flows from

something much stronger, much more enduring. It flows from the goodwill

and friendship of our peoples that's developing -- that has developed when

they get a chance to meet, would they only get a chance to meet.

At the outset, I talked about Moose Jaw and Singapore. In

conclusion, let me say a word about Maple Creek and Manila. Close to

10,000 Filipinos have moved to Saskatchewan during the last three years.

It‟s part of our population growth, historic population growth. Many have

settled in Regina and in Saskatoon, in our two major cities, but many others

have gone to small communities, rural communities, like Maple Creek, a

town of about 2,200 people near Swift Current that‟s my hometown in the

southwest portion of the province. And it‟s not heaven, but you can see it

from there.

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(Laughter)

Southwest Saskatchewan was the original Wild West for

Canada. It‟s the home of the beautiful Cypress Hills, this anomaly that‟s

there, this mountainous area that rises out of the flat prairies basically

because the glaciers missed it. It‟s the highest point in Canada between the

Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. It‟s as high as Banff actually. It‟s

home to the very first fort that was ever built by the Northwest Mounted

Police, now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It‟s called Fort Walsh. It‟s

still there today and they built it so that they could protect our Aboriginal

people, our First Nations, from American whiskey traders. It was home to

Sitting Bull, the great Sioux Chief, and about the 4,000 of the Sioux Nation

who had obviously defeated Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at Little Big

Horn and were seeking refuge in Canada. It was our Wild West.

And in Maple Creek, the community near those Cypress

Hills, you'll find the Commercial Hotel. It was built 129 years ago before we

became a province, just a few years after Canada became a country actually.

The Commercial was where the cowboys working the range in the wild west

of our country would congregate after a hard day in the saddle. In front of

the hotel actually remains today a hitching post where they'd tie up their

horses and head in for a water or probably something a little stronger. The

hotel was damaged, ladies and gentlemen, in a flood about three years ago,

inundated really with water and there wasn't anybody in the province,

including me, frankly, that thought that it would ever open again.

And then late last year there were some stirrings at the

Commercial Hotel in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Canada. A company with

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seven partners bought the property and started to restore it to its former

glory. They actually did a lot of the work with their own hands. They'll be

completed with the work by next month. The seven partners, not

longstanding Saskatchewan families, not longstanding Saskatchewan

companies, all Filipinos, every single one, all basically brand new to the

Province of Saskatchewan and Maple Creek, led by a fellow named Noy Lim

from Manila. Noy said this, by the way, about the business venture in the

local newspaper. He said, “When we first arrived here in Maple Creek, the

town really welcomed us with huge smiles. It embraced us. It‟s not always

that you're on the receiving end.” He said, “You have to give something.”

Ladies and gentlemen, we want to do business together.

We want to ensure that it‟s sustained for the long-term and I think our best

hope to achieve that success are found in what Noy Lim had to say, are found

in the work that the six other partners have done, something even a little bit

deeper than GDP and trade and commerce. It‟s that relationship that‟s

developing, relationship that‟s going to need a sustained focus by businesses

and by governments. Reason enough for Canada‟s ASEAN focus for today,

reason enough that we should be optimistic that that focus is going to

continue for a very, very long time.

I commend you to your deliberations in the conference and

I thank you very much for the opportunity to address you tonight.

(Applause)

(END OF RECORDING)