If we are going to task and pay qualified individuals to undertake these studies then it's likely in our best interest to take heed of what they say.
Peter MacKinnon, former President of the University of Saskatchewan, recently released a 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 the 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 are rolling high at the moment but things have a way of changing, sometimes for the worse. Putting away for the future - especially when it's affordable - makes logical sense.
"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 says.
"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."
Looking to places like Alberta, Alaska and Norway, MacKinnon made 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.
That report now lies in the hands of our premier. Judging from the province's growth we have been taking the right steps so far, so let's make sure we continue on that path.
