Alberta to use telephone town halls to gauge public interest on quitting CPP

The Alberta government will begin telephone town hall consultations with the public starting next week on whether to quit the Canada Pension Plan.

A panel led by former provincial finance minister Jim Dinning says there will be five 90-minute town hall discussions over six weeks, each session focused on getting feedback from a different region.

Dinning says the focus of the debate will be on the findings of a third-party report commissioned by the government.

The report by pension analyst LifeWorks calculates Alberta deserves more than half of the $575 billion in the CPP fund and says with that money an Alberta pension plan could deliver lower contribution costs and higher payouts.

Critics say the report’s math is questionable and the federal government and other provinces would never allow one member to take half the CPP.

Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government says if Dinning finds there is interest from Albertans to create an Alberta plan, the next step is a referendum.

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Debate heats up as Albertans weigh in on provincial pension plan proposal

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2023.