Alberta’s rainy-day Heritage Fund is getting an extra $2.8 billion, hitting a record high of $30 billion, which is almost double what it was five years ago.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government wants it to hit $250 billion by 2050 so future governments can spend investment returns without draining the fund.
Smith says the Heritage Savings Trust Fund still on track to hit that benchmark in 25 years.
The aim is to shield Alberta’s budget from the resource revenue roller coaster that has plagued past budgets.
The latest investment comes from a cash surplus of more than $5 billion that the province can spend out of an $8.3 billion bottom line surplus from the last fiscal year.
Horner says because past governments raided the piggy bank, the province missed out on hundreds of billions of dollars in returns.
“We know from the past that the fund cannot be beneficial if we do not have a strong framework to retain income in the fund and contribute when we can,” he said Friday.