| The recent announcement that the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund earned $2.1 billion in 2013 is great news, but don’t break out the champagne yet. While these record earnings will help relieve Alberta’s current budget deficits, they are almost meaningless in the long term — which is, or at least was, the whole point of having a heritage fund.
Why? Because under current government policy, virtually all of the fund’s realized annual earnings are transferred to general revenue for in-year spending. This means the fund’s value cannot grow as the market goes up...............................................Full Article: Source |