People should also be considering the management of an all-Alberta pension fund. Would it continue to be managed (as CPP is) by clear-eyed pension analysts, actuaries, and such making independent investment decisions on behalf of Alberta retirees, present and future? Or would that huge pot of money prove far too tempting to Alberta governments, present and future, who would want funds invested in things that THEY THINK would promote their economic agenda? (See the performance of the Heritage Trust Fund.) One doesn't need to have a particularly fertile imagination to fear government direction causing sub-optimal investment decisions.
Neil, one doesn’t need any imagination at all to fear government “direction” of financial agencies. Look at the history of bad loans forced on Alberta Treasury Branch during the Klein era. Something about extremely generous loans to Triple Five Corp for West Edmonton Mall, wasn’t it?
And re management of pension funds, I do hope AIMCo’s corporate IQ has risen since they lost $2B on a bad bet—futures trading, if I remember right.
Smith and the Free Alberta Fantasists are even less disciplined than the Klein Klown Kar ever was.
I'm waiting for Smith to announce that she's bringing back the "Alberta-First" financial geniuses who ran Principal Trust (into the ground) to manage the whole thing.
Thank you Lisa.I am once again disappointed by our Premier taking Albertans' and myself as an Albertan, for being a chump. I am nearly 75.I started paying into CPP in 1966 with my first job just out of high school. I paid in as required and often paid the employer as well as the employee contributions, as we had our own small business. When I turned 60, I started collecting my CPP and in 2012 after my late husband's passing, I also started received a portion of his CPP. I have now been depending on CPP for a significant portion of my retirement income for 15 years. I need that security that CPP will be there for me for at least another 25 years. I want it to be there with annual CPI increases. I learned long ago that if something sounds too good to be true it likely is. #HandsOffMy Pension. Thankfully I am confident that the majority of Albertans with the expertise of economists like Trevor Tombe will see through the fantasies that Premier Smith is peddling.
You're right.........an Alberta pension plan is a good diversion.......from the Alberta food inspection regime that let the largest e coli outbreak in Canada happen. Let's just all praise the God of Deregulation and go all in for a UCP designed, made in Alberta pension plan.
I have one pension managed by AIMCO, can't change that. I do not need my CPP managed by them as well. #HandsOffMyPension. An APP would be a very tempting pot of money for politicians to dip into when money is short.
Thanks, Lisa. No serious person thinks the numbers the Smith government has tossed out are anything near realistic. So what's the real reason? First, you're correct they're ginning up political support, but for what? It's certainly obvious they're going to "back away" from this absurd demand in favor of something else? A relaxation of Trudeau's carbon capture & taxation plans, perhaps? What really dismays me is that 50 years later, we're right back where we started fifty years ago: battling AGAINST a Trudeau Liberal government over who really controls what in the petrochemical sector instead of working WITH them. It makes me think of when their Republican cousins in the US (conservatives) described themselves as "The party of ideas" when they're just "The party of looking in the mirror."
Never trust a Conservative Party ever they would take 10% off your cheques. Conservatives have no clue how to buy shares. Your asking a rooster to trust her. Your lose your whole pension fund when UPC screws up
Anyone who doubts that Smith wants to use our pensions to prop up the smaller oil companies which are her biggest fans should think about her other actions, such as imposing a 7 month moratorium on Alberta's clean energy industry and adding millions to the war room's budget to advertise outside of Alberta:
The pension survey is a bit of a farce. Many questions assume you would like APP and are just choosing the best way to go forward. However, you can choose boxes that let you put in text, and at the end there is a text box for your comment. Have fun with that one! I did!
Good advice, Kathy! My responses to the free-expression sections were emotionally satisfying, but (in hindsight) will probably get my subission deleted before the reviewer reaches the final comment. Section 4, question 9 (what else should the Panel consider) can be summed up as "forget the whole damn stupid idea" (direct quote). I fear they won't even see the "final thoughts" entry, reproduced here in full:
This “survey,” like the “plan” it promotes, is bogus. The idea of an Alberta-only pension plan is at best wishful thinking by idiots who listen to each other too much. At worst, it’s a deliberate lie. In between, the “plan” MIGHT be a ploy to pressure the Trudeau Liberals. If so, it will fail. Trudeau doesn’t have to listen to Smith and her ideological masters. The rubes and rednecks have proven Trudeau can’t do anything they’ll like—e.g. buying and building the Trans Mountain expansion. So why bother? Worse for Smith, and good for Trudeau, ¾ of us are smart enough to know we’re better off as citizens of CANADA. The rubes and rednecks are welcome to bugger off to the You A$$ of Aay.
I had a look at the Alberta pension website and survey. This consultation reads like lotto dreaming. If you win $10 million in the lotto will you buy 2 houses or 3? Alberta does this fantasy thing of saying that we will get $330 billion. How do you want more or way more pension. It’s an unserious joke.
On a side note, what is it about conservatives and pensions? I can remember promises not to take gold-plated MP pensions. And they all took the pension with no accountability as they faded into retirement. Promise not kept. It was just insincere shtick. Same thing we are seeing now.
People should also be considering the management of an all-Alberta pension fund. Would it continue to be managed (as CPP is) by clear-eyed pension analysts, actuaries, and such making independent investment decisions on behalf of Alberta retirees, present and future? Or would that huge pot of money prove far too tempting to Alberta governments, present and future, who would want funds invested in things that THEY THINK would promote their economic agenda? (See the performance of the Heritage Trust Fund.) One doesn't need to have a particularly fertile imagination to fear government direction causing sub-optimal investment decisions.
Neil, one doesn’t need any imagination at all to fear government “direction” of financial agencies. Look at the history of bad loans forced on Alberta Treasury Branch during the Klein era. Something about extremely generous loans to Triple Five Corp for West Edmonton Mall, wasn’t it?
And re management of pension funds, I do hope AIMCo’s corporate IQ has risen since they lost $2B on a bad bet—futures trading, if I remember right.
Smith and the Free Alberta Fantasists are even less disciplined than the Klein Klown Kar ever was.
I'm waiting for Smith to announce that she's bringing back the "Alberta-First" financial geniuses who ran Principal Trust (into the ground) to manage the whole thing.
The Alberta oiligarcs are probably eyeing the funds with Carbon Capture and Storage "investment" in mind.
How to spin CO2 and climate change into gold!
Think about this:
https://twitter.com/politicalham/status/1705301489667932470
So well said - thank goodness we have your sane and sober thoughts on this.
Thank you Lisa.I am once again disappointed by our Premier taking Albertans' and myself as an Albertan, for being a chump. I am nearly 75.I started paying into CPP in 1966 with my first job just out of high school. I paid in as required and often paid the employer as well as the employee contributions, as we had our own small business. When I turned 60, I started collecting my CPP and in 2012 after my late husband's passing, I also started received a portion of his CPP. I have now been depending on CPP for a significant portion of my retirement income for 15 years. I need that security that CPP will be there for me for at least another 25 years. I want it to be there with annual CPI increases. I learned long ago that if something sounds too good to be true it likely is. #HandsOffMy Pension. Thankfully I am confident that the majority of Albertans with the expertise of economists like Trevor Tombe will see through the fantasies that Premier Smith is peddling.
And the more unbelievable the claims are, the less and less the media talk about the Calgary children still in ICU and/or on dialysis …
You're right.........an Alberta pension plan is a good diversion.......from the Alberta food inspection regime that let the largest e coli outbreak in Canada happen. Let's just all praise the God of Deregulation and go all in for a UCP designed, made in Alberta pension plan.
For the grandkids.
Why doesn't she want to really ask Albertans what they think? Afraid of what she might learn?
Right Albertan's have already let her know our thoughts and she doesn't like it. So she's shoving it under the carpet. This really angers me.
I have one pension managed by AIMCO, can't change that. I do not need my CPP managed by them as well. #HandsOffMyPension. An APP would be a very tempting pot of money for politicians to dip into when money is short.
I was born in Alberta and lived my whole life here. But I will move and establish a residence in BC if the disgusting UCP pursue this.
Thanks, Lisa. No serious person thinks the numbers the Smith government has tossed out are anything near realistic. So what's the real reason? First, you're correct they're ginning up political support, but for what? It's certainly obvious they're going to "back away" from this absurd demand in favor of something else? A relaxation of Trudeau's carbon capture & taxation plans, perhaps? What really dismays me is that 50 years later, we're right back where we started fifty years ago: battling AGAINST a Trudeau Liberal government over who really controls what in the petrochemical sector instead of working WITH them. It makes me think of when their Republican cousins in the US (conservatives) described themselves as "The party of ideas" when they're just "The party of looking in the mirror."
Never trust a Conservative Party ever they would take 10% off your cheques. Conservatives have no clue how to buy shares. Your asking a rooster to trust her. Your lose your whole pension fund when UPC screws up
Spot on. I just said something very similar to this in a thread on Mastodon (https://mstdn.ca/@inkynibs/111110113210421172).
Anyone who doubts that Smith wants to use our pensions to prop up the smaller oil companies which are her biggest fans should think about her other actions, such as imposing a 7 month moratorium on Alberta's clean energy industry and adding millions to the war room's budget to advertise outside of Alberta:
https://globalnews.ca/news/9941485/albertas-war-room-22m-ad-spend-revealed-annual-report.
And now the war room is bullying a BC municipality over its decision to stop having gas hookups in new buildings:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/09/22/news/alberta-fossil-fuels-war-room-singles-out-local-bc-government-battle
Everything she does is to the benefit of the oil and gas industry and the detriment of Canadians including Albertans.
It is just unbelievable how the UCP think we are that gullible. But then again, why do some people support TBA?
The pension survey is a bit of a farce. Many questions assume you would like APP and are just choosing the best way to go forward. However, you can choose boxes that let you put in text, and at the end there is a text box for your comment. Have fun with that one! I did!
Good advice, Kathy! My responses to the free-expression sections were emotionally satisfying, but (in hindsight) will probably get my subission deleted before the reviewer reaches the final comment. Section 4, question 9 (what else should the Panel consider) can be summed up as "forget the whole damn stupid idea" (direct quote). I fear they won't even see the "final thoughts" entry, reproduced here in full:
This “survey,” like the “plan” it promotes, is bogus. The idea of an Alberta-only pension plan is at best wishful thinking by idiots who listen to each other too much. At worst, it’s a deliberate lie. In between, the “plan” MIGHT be a ploy to pressure the Trudeau Liberals. If so, it will fail. Trudeau doesn’t have to listen to Smith and her ideological masters. The rubes and rednecks have proven Trudeau can’t do anything they’ll like—e.g. buying and building the Trans Mountain expansion. So why bother? Worse for Smith, and good for Trudeau, ¾ of us are smart enough to know we’re better off as citizens of CANADA. The rubes and rednecks are welcome to bugger off to the You A$$ of Aay.
I had a look at the Alberta pension website and survey. This consultation reads like lotto dreaming. If you win $10 million in the lotto will you buy 2 houses or 3? Alberta does this fantasy thing of saying that we will get $330 billion. How do you want more or way more pension. It’s an unserious joke.
On a side note, what is it about conservatives and pensions? I can remember promises not to take gold-plated MP pensions. And they all took the pension with no accountability as they faded into retirement. Promise not kept. It was just insincere shtick. Same thing we are seeing now.
This and this and this!
There's that about that......whatever you're referring to.
Excellent letter here with a detailed critique of the claims re APP
https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1706033617678573625