Bill Hunter would be proud: from worst to first in five years.

It's been a long time coming but now that it has arrived, we have evidence that there's no substitute for good times to pump a little energy and deliver a positive attitude adjustment into business owners. Look no farther than two recent reports to see it, feel it and measure it.

The first was produced by the Bank of Montreal's economics unit which measured the intensity of business formation across the country. They developed a ratio based on the number of small businesses in a community. Basically, it was an assessment of the number of small enterprises per thousand residents in a selected city. Saskatchewan did quite well on this one.

Among the larger communities in the nation, Saskatoon stood in ninth place with 31.9 small businesses per thousand residents. Among smaller centres Lloydminster was second in Canada with 69 per thousand. Swift Current claimed eighth place with 51 and Estevan was 10th at 50.2.

The second research piece on this topic came from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Financial Post.

In this particular study, which included a survey of business owners across the country on the entrepreneurial friendliness of their host community, Saskatoon emerged as tops in the nation. Rounding out the top 10 rankings in this particular study were Moose Jaw in fourth spot, Lloydminster fifth, Regina eighth and Prince Albert 10th.

In very simple terms, Saskatchewan dominated, kicked butt, blew the doors off. Anytime we can claim five of the top 10 spots in any national survey on the topic of business competitiveness or environment is big stuff.

More significantly it represents a profound change in attitudes. As Marilyn Braun Pollon, Saskatchewan vice-president of CFIB, put it: we've gone from worst to first in less than five years. The underlying question, of course, is what did we do to get from there to here?

Changing attitudes or the psychology of a marketplace is not something that occurs overnight. Usually it takes years, often moving silently and unseen until one day there it is.

Saskatchewan's version of this particular story probably begins back in 1999 when Stan Schmidt assumed the helm of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce. One of the goals of his mandate was to begin a discussion of where Saskatchewan would be five years after he finished his term--in 2005, Saskatchewan's centennial year.

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At the time Schmidt challenged his membership to reflect on where we had been in the first hundred years of Saskatchewan's existence and where we wanted to go in the next hundred. He titled the initiative Action Saskatchewan: A Blueprint for 2005.

The initiative sparked a lot of soul searching but primarily was a vehicle for exploring what Saskatchewan could be if it set its mind to it. It was little more than a change management exercise. Among the topics that it pushed to the forefront were tax reform, the role of First Nations in the economy and, undoubtedly the most significant element of all, our attitudes towards success.

Saskatchewan, at that time, was not particularly good at coping with success. Jealousy tended to extinguish the pursuit of prosperity as scarcity thinking overwhelmed thoughts of abundance.

But it was the chink in the armour, the process that laid a foundation for the transition we are seeing in these reports 10 years later.

Success, as evidenced by these studies, is now acceptable in Saskatchewan. That we enjoyed a surge in commodity prices in recent years helped fan the flames of our new attitude but Action Saskatchewan and other similar efforts conditioned the province, positioned us to psychologically accept the success and prosperity that flowed from the commodity boom. Without those efforts 10 years ago, I doubt we would have traveled this far along the road to national dominance.

Saskatchewan and, more particularly Saskatchewan's corporate community, is no longer viewed as sleepy hollow. We are recognized nationally as a place capable of succeeding, filled with players with the skills to excel at the game. We are now a destination, not a place to have left.

Sometimes it takes a national organization to recognize that transformation to make it legitimate in our own minds but these bodies are doing little more than reflecting the perception we now hold of ourselves. At long last it has become a healthy, positive outlook.

Paul Martin

Associate Editor

Paul Martin is heard daily on News Talk 650 and News Talk 980 as well as on the radio stations of the Golden West Broadcasting network in Saskatchewan.