NDP tables bill to reverse public-sector pension changes

EDMON TON The Alberta NDP labour critic has tabled a private members’ bill that would reverse controversial changes made by the UCP government to how public sector pensions, including those of teachers, can be managed.

Christina Gray tabled Bill 203, the Pensions Protection Act, in the Legislative Assembly on Monday. If passed, the bill would reverse parts of last year’s Bill 22 which gave the government more control over boards and required public sector pensions be managed by the Alberta Investment

Management Corporation (AIMCO).

The new bill would also insert a mandated consultation period before changes to governance or administration of the pension plans could be made and make it illegal for the Alberta government to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan.

“The reason I’m introducing this legislation now is directly because of the UCP’S corrupt Bill 22,” Gray said Monday. “It took control over board appointments, decreased pension-holder representation on boards, made Alberta Investment Management Corporation the only investment management possible and made Alberta Pension Services Corporation the only administrator.”

AIMCO already manages a portfolio of roughly $108 billion, including funds representing hundreds of thousands of Albertans’ pensions, such as the local authorities pension plan, the public service pension plan, and the special forces pension plan.

Last month, AIMCO announced it was bringing in outside investigators to probe its $2.1 billion loss linked to a volatility-based investment strategy amid the COVID -19 pandemic. Bill 22, an omnibus bill introduced and passed within four days last November, changed the balance of power on one pension plan board to have more non-union representatives, gave cabinet the power to approve board appointees and locked the pensions into having AIMCO as their investment manager.

Gray said her bill would return that control back to plan members. In the Legislative Assembly on Monday, she said people affected by the government’s decision do not have confidence in AIMCO to manage their money.