Alberta Opposition moves ahead with public consultations on province quitting CPP

 Provided by The Canadian Press

EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition NDP is moving ahead with town-hall consultations next week on the government’s proposal to have the province quit the Canada Pension Plan.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley says more than 23,000 Albertans have already responded to her party's survey, with more than 90 per cent rejecting the idea of ditching the CPP.

Premier Danielle Smith announced almost three weeks ago that virtual town-hall consultations and an online survey would be held this fall by a panel headed up by former Alberta finance minister Jim Dinning.

“All this will be rolled out in the next few weeks,” Dinning told reporters Sept. 21.

The government has since started a $7.5-million advertising campaign and the online survey.

The government survey, however, does not ask respondents whether they want to leave the CPP. It instead asks them how they would like an Alberta plan to be structured.

Both plans are based on a recent third-party report commissioned by the government that estimates an Alberta pension plan could deliver higher benefits and lower costs.

The report, by pension analyst firm LifeWorks, calculates Alberta deserves 53 per cent, or $334 billion, of CPP assets should it leave around 2027.

Smith’s government is promising higher returns and lower contribution costs based on that calculation.

However, economists and the CPP Investment Board estimate Alberta would be in line for 20 per cent or lower of CPP assets, not to mention the politics of having the federal government agree to give up more than half the CPP to one province.

Notley said Smith’s government is not being honest with Albertans on the estimates or on the benefits and pension security that would flow from such an unrealistic base figure.

“They have done nothing honest on this issue,” Notley told reporters in Calgary on Tuesday.

“They have lied to Albertans about what the cost would be of pulling out of CPP. They lie to Albertans about how much money Albertans would be entitled to start up our own pension plan. 

“So, I am deeply skeptical about what would happen in the consultations that they would move forward.

“They're clearly trying to manipulate Albertans (and) they're using taxpayers’ dollars to do it.”

Savannah Johannsen, spokesperson for Finance Minister Nate Horner, responded in an email statement, saying, "The APP Engagement Panel’s virtual telephone town hall details will be posted on albertapensionplan.ca soon."

Johannsen added that the panel's aim "is to gather a full understanding of what Albertans think of the benefits and risks of an Alberta Pension Plan."

The NDP online consultation is set for Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m.

The consultation is only one step of a long, potentially multi-year process.

Dinning’s panel is tasked with delivering a report on whether there is a provincial appetite for an Alberta pension plan.

If so, Smith said there would be a referendum and a majority of Albertans would have to give the OK and then the province would have to give three years' notice to set up the infrastructure for its own plan.

Polls and public surveys indicate a majority of Albertans want to stay with the CPP, but Smith says the potential benefits of an Alberta plan make it imperative she at least allow the discussion to go it alone.

No province has ever left the CPP, which was created in the mid-1960s. Quebec never joined the CPP at its inception.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2023.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press