Alberta Passes CPP Exit Legislation, Moves Closer to Referendum

The Alberta legislature building in a file photo. Shutterstock

Alberta’s United Conservative Party government has moved the province one step closer to a referendum on pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan, despite resistance from the NDP.

Alberta wrapped up the fall sitting of the legislature in the early hours of Dec. 6, after achieving third reading for Bill 2, the legislation that would make the referendum a reality. It passed with a 45 to 32 vote, and will become law once it receives Royal Assent.

While the bill compels a referendum be held, the government has the option to decide if it is legally bound to accept and act on the result. Finance Minister Nate Horner told the house the government would respect the results of any referendum.

Debate Time Restrictions

Premier Danielle Smith’s government nipped debate on Bill 2 in the bud earlier in the session in a bid to pass it before the end of the night, limiting the last two stages of debate to one hour.

Government house leader Joseph Schow said the one-hour restrictions were imposed because the Opposition NDP had vowed on social media it would try to stall the bill for weeks with continuous speeches about it in the house.

“They have threatened on social media, they have threatened in a number of instances that they want to sit all the way until Christmas,” he said during the session. “We’re not going to allow it to happen. We will complete the people’s business.”

NDP house leader Christina Gray called the time restrictions “antidemocratic.”

“For many members, they’ve only had minutes to talk about this bill because of how quickly it’s gone through,” Ms. Gray said. “There is so much more to say, and I believe we deserve this opportunity.”

The time-limit motion passed by the majority government despite NDP opposition and MPs made use of their one hour to call on the government to leave the pension plan alone.

NDP Accusation

Ms. Gray accused Mr. Schow of threatening NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi during the debate amid loud cross-aisle clamour.

“The Government House Leader was overheard to say to me, speaking about the Member for Edmonton-Whitemud, control her and, quote: ‘deal with her, or I will deal with her’,” she said, adding that Ms. Pancholi viewed the comments as “a threat.”

“It has made her feel unsafe and threatened,“ Ms. Gray said. ”Her ability to perform work as an MLA is impeded by feeling threatened in this place.”

Ms. Gray asked Speaker Nathan Cooper to sanction Mr. Schow for the comment. Mr. Cooper said he would investigate the accusation and address it when the house resumes sitting in the new year.

Mr. Schow told The Canadian Press he didn’t “recall the exact language he used,” but added that “I can say this with absolute certainty: I would never, nor have I ever, threatened a member of the legislative assembly.”

Alberta Entitled to Half of CPP Assets

A report commissioned by the Alberta government and released in September said the province should receive more than half of the CPP assets if it opted to leave. The Lifeworks report calculated that would be $334 billion or 53 percent of the fund.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux has said he will check the numbers and report on them in 2024. Mr. Giroux said he would calculate both contributions and withdrawals by CPP beneficiaries’ province of residence since 1966.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland in November also assigned the federal government’s chief actuary to put together an estimate of the cost of transfers.

Ms. Smith has told Albertans that the numbers would be available before a referendum vote.

“Albertans will have a hard number,” she told media on Oct. 25. “I’m not going to go to a referendum if people don’t have the information that they need in order to make a decision.”

Phase 1 Public Engagement Ends

The Alberta government said in a Dec. 8 press release that the first phase of public engagement on the proposed Alberta Pension Plan has wrapped up.

Seventy-six thousand Albertans participated in five telephone town hall sessions, and 94,000 filled in an online survey, the government said.

“The first phase of the engagement is now complete, and the panel will now analyze what it has heard from Albertans so far,” the release said.

The Canadian Press and Jennifer Cowan contributed to this report.