Premier Brad Wall keen on 'social impact bonds'
MLA June Draude put in charge of program
Premier Brad Wall has put a Sask. Party MLA in charge of social impact bonds — a type of financial instrument that lets investors support social services.
On Wednesday, former social services minister June Draude was named legislative secretary in charge of the bonds.
The government first used a social impact bond last year to raise $1 million to let Egadz open a supported living home in Saskatoon for at-risk single moms and their children.
Under the social impact bond system, the government sets a social outcome for a project, gets investors to provide the money, and pays them back a pre-determined sum if the outcome is met.
In the case of the Egadz centre, the investors included a credit union and a home-building company.
Wall says the Saskatoon project seems to be working well, so the government is interested in seeing what other projects could be financed this way.
Draude, the member for Kelvington-Wadena, isn't being paid extra for her duties as legislative secretary, the government said.