During a Dec. 6 legislature session, the UCP government rejected amendments to Bill 2: the Alberta Pension Plan Act, giving the government the choice of whether to accept Alberta Pension Plan (APP) referendum results in the future.
The UCP used its majority vote to shut down the NDP amendment to the bill. This means that if Albertans vote in a referendum to stay in the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP), the UCP could disregard the results and switch to the APP anyways.
The UCP’s plan to leave the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and create an APP has some Albertans up-in-arms. Town halls hosted by the official opposition, the NDP, have been held across Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, and St. Albert, and more are expected to be held.
On Dec. 1, the NDP reported 250 people attended a town hall held at a seniors centre in Red Deer, and most people in attendance spoke out against changing to an APP.
The UCP government says 53 per cent of the CPP fund could be transferred to Alberta, totalling $334 billion. To date, the UCP has spent nearly $8 million of taxpayer money on advertising the idea of creating the APP. The movement has made ripples across Canada – and even federal Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre weighed in by encouraging Albertans to stay with the CPP, in late October.
Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA weighs in
“We listened to people all across Alberta and they want us to explore this,” said Scott Cyr, UCP MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, speaking with Lakeland Today on Dec. 7. “It’s clear that Alberta wildly overcontributes to the CPP.”
While Albertans do contribute more to the CPP, the provincial population is younger, meaning a greater percentage of the population is of working age. Additionally, average wages are higher in Alberta than the rest of Canada.
Cyr accuses the NDP of fearmongering, but other unions and advocacy groups are also critical of the plan.
“The best way to protect the pension interests and benefits of all Albertans is to remain in the most stable, portable and reliable pension fund there is – the CPP – and focus on expanding access to pensions for all workers,” says an Alberta Federation of Labour press release.
Citizen's advocacy groups like Public Interest Alberta are also concerned with the government’s calculations for a CPP to APP transfer.
“Actuaries and pension experts from across the country and within Alberta argue that number [$334 billion] is very inflated,” says Bradley LaFortune, executive director with Public Interest Alberta.
When Cyr was asked how the provincial government would track pensions of people working in different provinces, he mentioned T4 slips already show the provinces Canadians work in, and noted how Quebec already has its own separate pension plan.
Cyr accused Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and the Liberal government of tampering with the CPP.
But LaFortune says the CPP Investment Board has explicit language ensuring the Canada Pension Plan is completely independent from the government.
Waiting game
On Dec. 8, the Government of Alberta said it has wrapped up its first phase of engagement, which included telephone town halls and an online survey.
“During this first phase of engagement, it quickly became clear that Albertans wanted more precise information on the value of the asset transfer Alberta would be entitled to receive if it were to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan,” according to information from the Government of Alberta, released on Friday.
“Following discussions between Canada’s finance ministers, the federal finance minister has committed to asking the chief actuary of Canada to provide an opinion on Alberta’s share of the CPP assets,” according to the provincial government.
“To that end, the panel has decided to give the chief actuary of Canada some time to release their findings before scheduling new public engagement sessions,” according to the Government of Alberta.