Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s hand-picked panel re-examining the province’s relationship with Ottawa says it’s time to hold a province-wide referendum on quitting the Canada Pension Plan.
The Alberta Next panel, in a report with findings and recommendations, says creating a provincial pension plan was the most hotly debated topic among citizens and one that needs to proceed to a vote.
“Replacing the CPP with an (Alberta plan) is the most financially meaningful initiative Albertans have the right to pursue on our own to enhance our sovereignty and financial independence within a united Canada,” says the report from the panel, which was headed up by Smith.
Read: Feds’ report dismisses Alberta’s CPP entitlement, offers formula to calculate potential exit: expert
But the panel stresses such a vote should only be held after residents receive more information on the pros and cons of the province going it alone. And it says a vote would be contingent on an Alberta pension plan matching or improving the payouts and premiums of the federal system.
The report was issued Friday afternoon without a news conference and Smith wasn’t made available for an interview. Her office, asked if she would support a CPP referendum, pointed to Smith’s earlier comments that it would be tight to get the issue on any ballot for next fall. The next general election is set for October 2027. The report comes after months of public town halls across the province and survey feedback.
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi labelled the Alberta Next project a stage-managed distraction from government failures on health care and education. He said Smith didn’t campaign on any of the issues prioritized in the report, which he noted was released on the Friday before Christmas.
Read: Alberta officials advised against releasing CPP exit survey results: report
“The government has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on a sham consultation, where they actively silenced anyone who dared to disagree with them,” Nenshi said in an interview. “[They] are now pretending that that was the voice of Albertans to justify spending millions of dollars more on referenda on things that Albertans don’t want.”
Nenshi said the CPP issue is a stalking horse to create a government controlled piggybank. “They want to create a large asset fund that is under the control of the government to invest in things the government wants to invest in,” he said.
Debate in Alberta over whether to quit the more than $777-billion CPP has been ebbing and flowing for more than two years under Smith. The premier has linked a standalone plan to long-standing concerns that Albertans are paying more into Confederation than they deservedly get back.
In 2023, her government issued a report estimating Alberta is entitled to more than half the money in the national nest egg should it go its own way.
That number was hotly contested. Absent a clear exit figure, Smith put formal consultations on hold and the issue faded into the background. As late as this spring, Smith said no firm bottom line number coupled with a lack of public “appetite” for leaving the CPP precluded any referendum for the time being.
However, the panel said a straw vote of people at its town halls supported the idea, as did a slim majority of those in its poll. But it noted a “clear majority” of those who sent online feedback opposed leaving the CPP.
The panel said it heard concerns about what would happen if a provincial fund was mismanaged or if Alberta’s strong economic advantage didn’t continue, not to mention questions about portability. The panel said all those details — contribution rates, management structure, benefits and more — need to spelled out for Albertans ahead of any referendum.
Read: Just 22% of Albertans support CPP withdrawal, creation of provincial pension plan: survey