Consultant Jason Kenney wants provinces to replicate Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp.

While former Premier Jason Kenney says he's happy in the private sector, the recovering politician is still pushing for a legacy he led and is proud of. 

While moderating a panel at the Indian Resource Council Conference on Thursday in Calgary, Kenney called on the province to increase the available loan guarantee cash for the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC).

He wants it to double from $1 billion to $2 billion after the May election — a move he had planned as part of his re-election campaign, had he not stepped down.

He told the room full of Indigenous leaders, business people and stakeholders of his intent to push other provinces, like British Columbia, to adopt a similar model that helps provide capital for Indigenous-led natural resources, agriculture, telecommunication and transportation projects. 

"This is an opportunity to move those nations in those communities to prosperity — meaningful prosperity, not just with token benefit agreements but ownership stake in the economy," Kenney said. "I just think this is a moral cause for our time."

AIOC was introduced as Bill 14 in the Alberta Legislature in October 2019, with board members appointed in January 2020. 

Since then, Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson says it has backed more than $400 million in major resource projects. 

"They are doing exactly what they were designed to do: generating sustainable revenue streams for First Nations and Métis communities by removing barriers to investment capital for major projects," Wilson said in a written statement. 

A notable success coming out of the Crown corporation, said Enoch Cree Chief Billy Morin, was helping secure stakes in Enbridge Pipelines along with the Cascade Power project. Bringing Indigenous ownership on board for large-scale projects, he hopes, will become the norm.  

"There's a precedent now with Enbridge and Cascade and multiple huge transactions in this area about what to do and what not to do," Morin said. 

Morin is the managing director at Axxcelus Capital Advisory, a group that facilitates ownership of major assets for Indigenous communities. In this role, he sees that private capital institutions are acknowledging that there's no economic reconciliation for resource development without Indigenous folks at the table. 

While the province says only 40 per cent of the loan guarantee allocation has been used to date, Morin said demand is set to outpace the $1 billion cap. 

In his role as special advisor on Indigenous relations, Morin said he's advocating for the province to double that cap, adding Danielle Smith is receptive to the idea. 

"We quickly realized that you know to get our products to market it's not gonna take $1 billion, it's gonna take $5, 10, 15 [billion] over the next couple of years," Morin said. "It would be my recommendation to her and the current government … to double [the cap]." 

In a statement, Wilson said the province is committed to the goal of deploying the $1 billion in loan guarantees to Indigenous communities by 2025.