Released on November 12, 2013
Opportunity to Build Lasting Legacy From Natural Resource Revenues
Today Peter MacKinnon, former President of the University of Saskatchewan, released his report to Premier Brad Wall on a proposed Saskatchewan Futures Fund. The report provides a framework for the government to create a fund to permanently save a portion of our province’s non-renewable resource revenues to invest and grow for future generations.
MacKinnon was appointed by Wall in October 2012 as part of the Saskatchewan Plan for Growth to examine and report on the efforts government could take to safeguard one-time non-renewable resource revenues.
“We owe it to our children and grandchildren, and to their children and grandchildren, to take a deliberate and balanced look at how we can secure today’s resource wealth into the future,” MacKinnon said. “A permanent savings account in the form of a Futures Fund could turn our one-time revenue from these resources into a lasting source of wealth for Saskatchewan people.”
Reviewing the experiences of other resource revenue funds in Alberta, Alaska and Norway, MacKinnon makes twelve recommendations that would see a permanent savings fund created, cap government’s use of resource revenues at today’s levels and create an arms-length agency to invest these funds on behalf of Saskatchewan people.
“With the growth and prosperity we enjoy today in Saskatchewan, it is the perfect time to consider how we might enhance the legacy afforded by our abundant resources,” MacKinnon said. “If a Futures Fund is to succeed, it will require a broad consensus on when it will be created, its purpose and the benefits it provides now and into the future. I hope this report can act as a guide.”
Wall accepted the report and thanked MacKinnon for his thoughtful analysis and recommendations.
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For more information, contact:
Kathy Young
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-526-8927