Danielle Smith’s Government Sparks Confusion After Quietly Issuing $11 Billion Loan Guarantee for Alberta’s Biggest Financial Institution

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include three additional statements made by Finance Minister Nate Horner and his press secretary, Justin Brattinga, responding to this story issued after it was first published.

Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government has sparked confusion after quietly issuing an $11 billion loan guarantee without publicly explaining the reason for the increase, which totals $2 billion.

The Order in Council dated January 29, 2025 increases the amount of public money available to backstop ATB Financial, Alberta’s biggest financial institution. The Order in Council was issued without any public announcement explaining the reason for the change.

ATB Financial is both a financial institution and a Crown corporation owned by the province of Alberta, making it unique among the provinces.

Originally set-up by the old Social Credit Party in the 1930s to provide loans to farmers, the government of Alberta has had a longstanding program to guarantee loans, effectively backstopping ATB financial should it run out of cash.

The text of the Order in Council expands the borrowing limit, which is the amount of public money available to ATB Financial, to $11 billion:

1. Authorizes the President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance (referred to hereafter as the “Minister”) to make advances to or purchase securities of ATB Financial (referred to hereafter as the “Corporation”) for the purpose of the Corporation carrying on its business under the ATB Financial Act.
2. Orders that the maximum aggregate principal amount of advances made to the Corporation and securities of the Corporation purchased by the Minister, under this Order and any previous order, that may be outstanding at any time shall not exceed $11,000,000,000”

Prior to publication of this story, PressProgress sought clarification about the reason for the increase to the borrowing limit. Officials in both the Premier’s Office and Alberta’s Ministry of Finance ignored inquiries about the change over the course of multiple days.

The sheer size of the loan guarantee left some observers scratching their heads, who noted the Government of Alberta’s provincial healthcare budget was $26 billion. At the end of September 2024, the provincial government had advanced $3.58 billion to ATB Financial.

Bob Ascah, a former VP of government relations with ATB Financial and a research fellow with the Parkland Institute, says the increase was a “bit of a surprise” to him.

“They’re basically tripling the amount,” Ascah told PressProgress, referring to the value of ATB Financial’s wholesale borrowings in its most recent financial disclosures.

Ascah says it is not clear why Danielle Smith’s government would make this kind of change.

“It’s difficult to speculate on the purpose of the threefold increase,” Ascah said, noting that “for ATB mining and oil and gas extraction is $6.1 billion, commercial real estate is $7.8 billion, so these are really huge numbers.”

“You never know, it could mean advancing money to struggling oil and gas producers. ATB has a very large portfolio of oil and gas. My sense is that it’s for small companies.”

Following publication of this story, Justin Brattinga, the press secretary for Alberta’s Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board, issued a statement to PressProgress indicating that the government had expanded its capacity to $11 billion because it needed “extra capacity.”

“Cabinet increased ATB’s borrowing limit to account for their growth,” Brattinga told PressProgress. “They have expanded their client base and needed the extra capacity.”

Nearly 24 hours later, Brattinga issued a second statement offering an additional clarification, noting that the borrowing limit was previously set at $9 billion (this change was made in a different Order in Council five years earlier).

In a third clarification, the Alberta Today newsletter reported Finance Minister Nate Horner explained the $9 billion to $11 billion borrowing limit increase was simply “business as usual.”

“You can quote me on this,” Horner told Alberta Today. “Out to 2030, they’re anticipating a $13 billion increase in loan growth and that corresponds with a $12 billion increase in deposits.”

Ascah clarified that while the province is correct to point out that the borrowing limit increased from $9 billion to $11 billion, the borrowing limit is triple the amount they are currently using.

“They’ve only used $3.5 billion of $9 billion and now they have so much extra borrowing room,” Ascah said. “It is dramatic – the point still stands.”

“On the face of it, it just seems to be a very large amount and what they’re saying is they need to have an extra $6 or $7 billion borrowing cushion,” Ascah said. “The facts they came back with don’t seem to square with why they need this extra borrowing room because clearly they aren’t using it now.”

Brad Lafortune, director of the watchdog group Public Interest Alberta, describes the Order in Council as a risky government-funded backstop.

“If we’re talking about risk, that’s billions of dollars that will ultimately be put on the backs of Albertans,” Lafortune told PressProgress.

“This is something that should not only see the light of day through the King’s Printer, but should be debated in the House, and we should have a real conversation about whether we want to do this.”

Update and correction: This article has been updated in response to three separate statements made by Finance Minister Nate Horner and his press secretary Justin Brattinga issued after this article was first published. Brattinga and the Premier’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for clarification prior to publication about the reason for the Order in Council increasing the borrowing limit to $11 billion.

An earlier version of this article also quoted an analyst indicating the borrowing limit had increased threefold. This was incorrect. In fact, the borrowing limit was increased from $9 billion in 2020 to $11 billion in 2025, however, ATB Financial’s records show only $3.5 billion was used. The new $11 billion borrowing limit is triple the amount used currently for loans.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Savannah Johannsen as Danielle Smith’s press secretary. While Johannsen did previously serve as press secretary until recently, Johannsen became Smith’s chief of staff last month.