Premier Danielle Smith to announce plan to grow Alberta’s nest egg

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is scheduled to announce today her government’s plan to grow the province’s rainy day fund.

Her government has said it wants to grow the Heritage Savings Trust Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by the year 2050, in order to wean the province off the resource revenue roller-coaster.

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Smith is set to announce the plan with Finance Minister Nate Horner in Calgary.

Smith’s United Conservative Party government has committed to not skimming interest earnings from the fund to prop up the province’s general revenue and to investing in it every year.

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The fund was created in 1976 by former premier Peter Lougheed to set aside resource revenues, but subsequent governments have dipped into the piggy bank as needed.

Its assets were valued at $23.4 billion as of September, and Horner pledged another $2 billion as part of this year’s budget.

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