ATHABASCA/BARRHEAD/WESTLOCK — Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken says the decision is ultimately up to Albertans about whether they wish to remain in the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and continue paying disproportionately more than the rest of the country or go with a made-in-Alberta plan that could potentially save money while offering the same or better benefits.
“Albertans will make the decision at the end of the day,” said van Dijken, in an Oct. 4 interview.
On Sept. 21, the Alberta government released a report on the potential benefits of withdrawing from the CPP and creating an Alberta Pension Plan.
The report was developed by the independent consultant LifeWorks, which was later acquired by TELUS Health. It suggests that Alberta has paid significantly more into the CPP than it has withdrawn due to its younger population and higher pensionable earnings, and as such is entitled to a $334-billion asset transfer from the CPP in 2027.
Incidentally, the CPP had net assets of $570 billion as of March 31, 2023, an increase of $31 billion from the end of fiscal 2022.
The report further argues that switching to an Alberta Pension Plan could achieve $5 billion in savings in the first year alone, which would in turn boost each senior’s monthly pension payment, and Alberta workers could save up to $1,425 per year (or $2,850 if self-employed) while maintaining the same level of benefits.
The Westlock News reached out to van Dijken last week for comment on the report and to hear what feedback he has received from the public since its release.
van Dijken said he thought the report was well done, adding that he believed it was important to have an entity that was completely third-party and non-biased to investigate the benefits of a provincial pension plan.
He said believes that Lifeworks was a credible choice for that third party and the report “speaks for itself.”
van Dijken highlighted one of the graphs in the report that demonstrates how Alberta has been over-contributing to the CPP relative to the rest of the country, especially in the last 10 years.
“We’re over and above by quite a bit,” he said.
van Dijken didn’t elaborate too much further on the details of the report, noting that he preferred to leave the technical analysis up to experts.
However, he did point out that the Quebec Pension Plan, which was established when the CPP was being created in 1966, is probably much healthier than the CPP in terms of where things have ended up.
Also, he suggested that the province wouldn’t proceed with the creation of a pension plan unless it could guarantee Albertans would receive as good or better benefits than the CPP, at a lower cost to the economy.
“Probably the biggest benefit is that that money stays in Alberta working for Alberta families,” he added.
When asked about the feedback he had received, van Dijken said in the week following the report’s release, he received a number of emails, some of which he described as “form emails saying, ‘Don’t touch my pension.’”
At this point, he was receiving more genuine inquiries for information and was directing people on to the actual Lifeworks report.
He stressed the importance of providing feedback via the engagement panel that will begin holding meetings around Alberta this fall and into the spring of 2024.
That engagement panel will ultimately submit a report based on the provincewide engagement and a referendum may be held on whether or not to pursue an Alberta pension plan.
