The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released a report today showing the government of Saskatchewan would have $3.3 billion in savings if it followed the MacKinnon report’s recommendation and started a heritage fund a decade ago.

“Praying for resource booms isn’t a prudent way to budget taxpayers’ money,” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director of the CTF. “Premier Scott Moe should immediately implement a heritage fund to commit the government to save money and set the province up for financial success for decades to come.”

In 2013, the provincial government commissioned former University of Saskatchewan president, Peter MacKinnon, to author report on managing non-renewable resource revenues. The report recommended the creation of a heritage fund, where the government would save some resource revenues for future generations. The government did not adopt the recommendation.

The CTF’s report shows the Saskatchewan government would currently have $3.3 billion in the heritage fund if it followed a heritage fund plan based on the MacKinnon report. This would generate $164 million in interest income annually.

“Saskatchewan taxpayers are losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars every year because politicians don’t want to save money,” Haubrich said. “The government needs to stop spending away the booms and start a heritage fund now.”

Since the MacKinnon report was published in 2013, the Saskatchewan government increased the debt by more than 226 per cent.

The CTF’s Heritage Fund report is available HERE.