Alberta will study already ‘compelling case’ for its exit from CPP: Kenney

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says there’s a “compelling case” to be made for his province to exit the half-century-old Canada Pension Plan an idea sure to face increasing scrutiny over the coming months.

With growing frustrations in his province about its place in the federation, Kenney has revealed that a deeper analysis is on the way to consider Alberta’s potential withdrawal from the national pension plan. The move, if it goes forward, would pull Albertans’ multibillion-dollar share from the $400-billion pool of assets that are handled by the investment manager, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

The proposed departure, Kenney said, will be examined by a panel his government intends to create as a way to assess “fairness” for Alberta within the federation. Talk of the CPP withdrawal follows a federal election result late last month that many say exemplified Prairie frustration toward the Liberal government in Ottawa. The federal Liberals were reduced to a minority mandate after failing to capture a single seat in Alberta or Saskatchewan. There’s also been momentum behind separatist sentiments in the two resource-dependent provinces, where their economies have struggled through a commodity downturn.

Much of the anger has been directed at Ottawa and other parts of Canada which are accused of preventing the landlocked Prairie provinces from getting their natural resources to the coast for export.

Now, Kenney is ready to take a long look at ditching the CPP, which has been in place everywhere in Canada, except Quebec, since the mid-1960s. Quebec has been managing its own sister pension plan.

“I can certainly tell you that will be one of the issues studied by the panel that I will be appointing to consult with Albertans on fighting for a fair deal in Canada,” the Alberta premier said in a recent video clip, which was posted last week on Facebook.

“I believe that a compelling case can be made for such a shift.”

In his message, Kenney said he understands about $40 billion worth of Albertans’ premiums are managed by the CPPIB.

He said the funds, if pulled from the CPPIB, would be transferred to the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, also known as AIMCO. The institutional investor, which includes the province’s public-sector pension plans, already manages about $100 billion in assets for Alberta taxpayers, he said.

With Alberta home to Canada’s youngest population, he added it’s the biggest net contributor to the CPP.

“Let me underscore, our government has not made any decision in this respect but it is certainly one of the ideas that people will be presenting to our panel on fairness within the federation,” Kenney said.

The premier argued the extra funds would enable AIMCO to diversify further and potentially improve the returns over time. Kenney also noted that Quebec has responsibly managed its own pension plan outside of CPP for decades.