How does it affect citizens either way? Isn’t it the same amount of money? Won’t it work like QPP where if you leave the province, they do transfers with CPP to ensure you get all your pension no matter where you live when you retire? What difference does it make who holds the money? Please objective answers only, I’m not looking for how individuals feel about it either way.
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Risk.
We assume all the risk of an aging population. Right now, Albertans are demographically younger so are in their contributing years. If interprovincial migration occurs, or the population of Alberta follows what happened in Quebec, our premiums will exceed that of the CPP.
We assume the risk of allowing provincial government to use our pension money as they see fit. There are no assurances any Alberta government can give that mitigates this risk as any legislation passed by this government can be changed just as easily by the next. The CPP has a much higher bar because major changes will require something like a majority of the provinces to agree.
It hampers your freedom of movement within Canada. The QPP has harmonized benefits with the CPP, so that makes it easy for people to transfer between plans if they retire outside or inside Quebec. Whereas Smith has been selling the APP as being able to pay out higher benefits. If this were to occur, how is this going to work if a person decides to retire on Vancouver Island, or Kelowna, or the Maritimes? We have no information on anything like this. Because there is no plan, just a sales job.
Why does Smith want to pull out? Well, it’s to satisfy the rump in the countryside that wants a sovereign Alberta. It’s one more step to making Alberta independence go smoother.
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