Alberta's Trillion Dollar Mistake

Alberta's Trillion Dollar Mistake

July 7, 2026 · 35 min · Episode 1395

About this episode

This episode explores the history and mistakes of Alberta's sovereign wealth fund and its implications for future national funds.

 Fifty years ago, Alberta had a chance to build one of the greatest sovereign wealth funds in the world. It could have been a trillion-dollar province. This episode, host Sam traces the full story of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund: the booms, the busts, and the mistakes made along the way. How did the richest province in Canadian history end up with almost nothing saved?  And now that Mark Carney is trying to build something similar for the whole country, does Ottawa actually know what it's doing, or is it about to make the same mistakes all over again? Host: Sam Konnert Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Annie Tuba (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Tristan Capacchione (Senior Production Supervisor), Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork) Photo Credit: @ABDanielleSmith Guests: Trevor Tombe, Keith Brownsey Background reading: Alberta government expects $100 payouts to arrive within 2 weeks of applications – Global News The Canada Strong Fund isn’t a sovereign wealth fund — and that’s OK – Policy Options Canada’s new sovereign wealth fund is ambitious, but its…

People in this episode

Host: Sam Konnert

Guests: Trevor Tombe, Keith Brownsey

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, Ottawa, Global News, Policy Options, The Conversation, National Post, The Globe and Mail

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