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Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner
So I admittedly haven't read this thread other than the subject line, but a question has occurred to me. I apologize if this has already been raised...
Where does the Heritage Fund play into this?
It seems to me that the Heritage Fund has often been sold to the public as a "rainy day" fund, something that could be used in hard times or lean times. I expect, or at least hope, that the real purpose of the fund is to keep royalty money invested for the long term so that there is a lasting benefit of the resources in the province after they are extracted and gone. They are a finite resource after all.
But if the fund is truly a "rainy day" fund - when is it going to get rainier? A global economic meltdown with credit drying up seems to be about as bad as it's going to get. Economists have been comparing this recession to the Great Depression. I don't know if this is overblown in the media of if it's accurately portraying the dire straits of the economic situation.
But if things are that bad, and the government is heading towards and $8B deficit, and the Heritage Fund was put aside for conditions like this - why isn't it being used?
School me CP.
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The deficit which is currently projected to be 7.9B will be drawn out the Sustainibility fund. The money in that fund was recently funnelled from Heritage fund. In other words they are using the rainy day fund.
There is roughly 16B between the two funds (if I remember correctly) so they are basically going to need to drain 50%.... thus it is unlikely that there will be any left by the next general election.
It should be noted this did not just happen this year or last....they have been outspending revenues for 5 + years now.