| Premier Alison Redford’s promise — to start saving — seemed out of place in a speech punctuated with warnings of a $6-billion “bitumen bubble,” tough decisions and belt-tightening ahead for Alberta. “We have a plan to once again begin investing a portion of our resource revenue in the Heritage Fund, the first time that will have happened in over 25 years,” Redford declared.
The Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, established in 1976 by premier Peter Lougheed as a nest egg for the province’s resource riches, sits today at about $16 billion. Since the early 1980s, the government has added relatively little to the fund, except for inflation proofing. Instead, it has been tapped to the tune of about $33 billion to help pay for various programs and building projects...........................................Full Article: Source |