Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is putting plans to hold a referendum to determine support for a provincial pension plan on the back burner for now.
According to a report by the Edmonton Journal, Smith said she doesn’t think Albertans have “an appetite” to pull out of the $632.3B Canada Pension Plan, noting there is still the question of just how much of the national program’s total assets would be allocated to the province should it decide to exit the CPP.
“I have said that I would put it to the people if I saw evidence they wanted to vote on it (but) I’m not seeing that at the moment,” said the Premier, during a recent press conference.
In 2023, the Alberta Treasury Board and Finance commissioned a report by LifeWorks, which concluded that the province would be entitled to roughly 53% (or more than $300B) of the CPP’s base assets. However, Alberta’s chief actuary disagreed, estimating the province’s share to be up to 25%.
At the time, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, said she would ask the federal government’s chief actuary to provide an estimate of the asset transfer based on a “reasonable interpretation of the provisions in the CPP legislation.” Last December, the chief actuary released a report noting the estimate in Alberta’s report was inflated.
