Alberta’s NDP says Albertans’ pension investments should not be political toys for the UCP, and vows that Albertans’ pensions will remain with the Canada Pension Plan if elected in May.
NDP leader Rachel Notley said the CPP is renowned for its management and reliability. Changing CPP levels, or the age that people can collect the pension, requires the consent of seven provinces representing two/thirds of the population so it’s even more difficult to change than the Canadian Constitution.
“That means any change to CPP is immune from rogue politicial risk. But if Danielle Smith gets her way, political risk skyrockets. Smith and her UCP cabinet could change benefit levels or retirement age in one cabinet meeting behind closed doors. That is an unacceptable level of risk for Albertans when their retirement security is what’s at stake,” said Notley when the NDP released its Your Pension is Yours plan on Thursday.
“We will legislate the protection of the CPP by passing a law preventing any Alberta government from leaving the plan.
“We recognize that your pension is yours. It doesn’t belong to me and certainly doesn’t belong to Danielle Smith.”
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The NDP say that without any mandate or consultation, the UCP has already dramatically restructured public pension governance impacting the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of Albertans.
Bill 22 dismantled joint governance and all public sector plans were prevented from leaving the Alberta Investment Management Corporation irrespective of the investment managers’ performance.
The NDP’s plan includes bringing back joint governance for public sector pension plans, as well as creating a task force to expand private workplace pensions. Private sector pension participation would be voluntary, and the government would defray administrative costs to set up pensions.
“If could expand private sector pensions through this model to say 100,000 more Alberta workers, it would cost the government about $17.5 million but it would be utterly transformative for the retirement security of so many Albertans, and it would help employers attract and retain workers at a time when we’re hearing this is a huge challenge,” Notley said.
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The NDP says Danielle Smith forcefully campaigned on leaving the CPP, and advocated for using pension funds to establish and fund an Alberta Provincial Police Force and an Alberta Revenue Agency.
Notley said sticking with the CPP will also save hundreds of millions of dollars that Smith would spend to set up and operate an Alberta-based pension plan.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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