Why Alberta should establish its own pension plan - Calgary Herald

Excerpts from Calgary Herald article:

In just 12 years — from 2007 to 2018, inclusive — Alberta contributed $239.847 billion net payments to the rest of Canada. It’s important to point out this occurred during two significant economic downturns. Alberta, despite our difficulties, is the largest net contributor to Confederation on a per capita basis — by far — about $5,000 for every man, woman and child annually.

Albertans already know about the federal Liberal government’s numerous attacks against this province — the unilateral cancellation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of the already-approved Northern Gateway Pipeline; the changing of rules on Energy East well into the process leading to its cancellation; and the introduction of bills C-69 and C-48 which create the perverse scenario of bans on tankers that carry Alberta oil products along Canada’s west coast, while allowing Saudi oil to travel unhindered along our east coast and up the St. Lawrence River. ...

Many people have been wondering whether establishing an Alberta Pension Plan is a good idea. ...

In 2001, then influential University of Calgary Professor Ted Morton, was one of the signatories of what came to be known as the Alberta Agenda or firewall letter. It urged then-premier Ralph Klein to use the province’s constitutional powers and take actions that included the “withdrawal from the Canada Pension Plan, ending the provincial contract with the RCMP . . . and collecting revenue for the province from income tax,” in order to “limit the extent to which an aggressive and hostile federal government can encroach on legitimate provincial jurisdiction.” ...

As the Fair Deal panel report states: “If Alberta withdrew from the CPP and created an Alberta Pension Plan (APP), Alberta’s hypothetical contribution rate could be reduced from the present rate of 9.9 per cent to as low as 5.85 per cent.” ...

In 2017 alone, Albertans paid $2.9 billion more into CPP than they received. Between the years of 2008 to 2017, Albertans’ net contributions totalled $28 billion.

With an APP, that money would stay in Alberta.

Read Corbella's full Calgary Herald article HERE.









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