ST. JOHN’S, NL – The only Trustee from outside of the provincial public service on the Newfoundland Labrador Future Fund has resigned. Kevin Martin, in a Letter to the Editor of the July 23 edition of the Shoreline News, wrote, “To say I was disappointed by the government’s recent changes to the Fund would be an understatement.” Those changes eliminated the requirement to deposit a portion of offshore oil royalties into a long term savings account.
Martin, a former federal public civil servant with a career in financial management, said Premier Tony Wakeham and Finance Minister Craig Pardy’s contention that contributions to the Future Fund were, “like using a credit card open up a savings account” is “inaccurate.” In fact, Martin notes the Fund “achieved returns that exceeded the Province’s cost of borrowing.”
The former Future Fund Trustee was responding to a column published in the July 6 edition of the Shoreline News titled “For the Wakeham Tories, the future is now. . .financially speaking.” The column was republished by the Gammy Bird under the title, “F*** The Future.”
Until Wakeham’s PC’s amended the Future Fund Act a percentage of non-renewable oil royalties were deposited into the Fund for the benefit of our children and grandchildren. As of Dec. 31, 2025 that amounted to $524 million which has earned an annualized return of 7.8%, returns which Kevin Martin notes have, “exceeded the Province’s cost of borrowing.”
The former Future Fund Trustee also questions the Wakeham and Pardy’s decision to grab the Fund’s portion of the 2025 royalties even though the 2025 fiscal year closed on March 31, two months before the legislation was amended.
In the original July 6 Shoreline column Liberal Finance Critic Sarah Stoodley said, “They diverted over $180 million that was legally bound to go into the Fund from 2025 to their general government spending in 2026-2027. They changed the law before the funds from the previous year had been actually placed in the Future Fund. . .for future generations and they took that away. For what?”
Tony Wakeham and Craig Pardy say the reason is to reduce the provincial debt. Alex Whelan of the Fraser Institute says raiding the fund is a bad idea. The solution he says is to “rein in spending.” Kevin Martin agrees. In his Shoreline Letter to the Editor Martin writes, “As many economists and public finance experts have observed, Newfoundland and Labrador has long faced a spending challenge more than a revenue challenge.”
In an interview published in the July 27 edition of the online business news publication allnewfoundlandlabrador.com Kevin Martin said, “The more important question in my view isn’t whether the government had the legal authority to suspend the contribution. It’s whether the exercising of that authority serves the long-term interests of the province.”
Kevin Martin was appointed to the Future Fund’s Board of Trustees through the Independent Appointments Commission’s merit-based process when the Fund was established. In his Letter to Shoreline News Martin said, “As both a father and grandfather, my motivation for joining the Board stemmed from the Fund’s intergenerational purpose: setting aside a portion of the wealth generated from our province’s non-renewable resources for the benefit of future generations.”
Martin doesn’t think an emphasis on reducing the provincial debt is incompatible with a long-term saving strategy. In his interview with allnewfoundlandlabrador Martin said, “To use an analogy, many of us save for the future or retirement while managing a mortgage or other household debt. Both can be part of a prudent strategy.”
~~~
SQUAWK! Please feed the Gammy Bird
If you like the The Gammy Bird please consider a donation to keep the the squawks, stories, pictures and videos flying. We use PayPay for one-time or reoccurring fast secure payment. We also accept etransfer to office@straylight.ca
