Alberta increases loan guarantees for AIOC, wants similar fund from feds for Indigenous ‘participation’ in TMX – Yahoo! Finance

November 17, 2023

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s willing to work with the feds to get a “portion of Indigenous participation” in the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Smith said she has spoken with federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland about putting in place something similar to the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC), which provides loan guarantees for Indigenous Nations to invest in major projects in the natural resources, agriculture, telecommunications, and transportation sectors.

But Smith fell short in committing AIOC loan guarantees for Indigenous nations to buy an equity stake in the pipeline, now owned by Canada, despite announcing on Monday that AIOC’s capacity would increase to $3 billion in 2024/2025, up from $2 billion.

“There’s significantly more British Columbian First Nations…so I think we’ve established this (AIOC) program in order to be able to help the Indigenous communities here, and so I don’t know if it’s in the program parameters to help Indigenous communities in other provinces,” said Smith.

Read More: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/alberta-increases-loan-guarantees-aioc-141425381.html