An associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan says now is the perfect time for the province to be thinking about a rainy-day Heritage Fund.
Greg Poelzer with the Johnson-Shoyama School of Public Policy says the province dodged a bullet with the budget this year because although oil revenue is down, potash is doing OK.
But he says with a Heritage Fund, there is always a cushion, pointing to the example of North Dakota where 30 per cent of their oil revenues go in a permanent fund.
He suggests taking one per cent of the renewable resource revenue per year, which would average out to about $100 million, and build that incrementally over time.
He compares a heritage fund to an RRSP, saying that rather than take out the principle, you could only take the interest.
Poelzer says Norway has been successful with theirs where 20 per cent of their budget is funded just from the interest from oil revenues.
(CJWW)
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