Maybe there’s some merit to this Alberta pension plan idea after all.
I’ve previously written about how the whole thing seems daft and any promised referendum would never pass muster with most Albertans who would wisely choose security over adventure when it comes to their collective retirement.
Still, changing your mind isn’t yet deemed a Criminal Code offence, although it’s certainly enough to get you excommunicated by previous social media fans along with angry denunciations of treason.
Actually, I still think the pension plan won’t fly and was only initially pushed by Danielle Smith’s government as a sop to the Take Back Alberta cohort that helped her become premier, and that has recently taken control of the UCP’s executive. It’s a red herring, promoting splitting from Canada without actually splitting from Canada, if you get the drift. In short: yet more political posturing.
So, what’s changed? It’s the reaction from the rest of this country.
Remember that last civic election in October 2021? It was the one in which those Calgarians who bothered to vote elected a council that recently raised property tax rates by 7.85 per cent. Perhaps that jogs your memory?
Also on the ballot was a plebiscite regarding equalization payments in Canada, asking if that national measure should be removed from our country’s Constitution. If you have more trouble remembering that little tick box, it’s unsurprising. Because, though the question received an overwhelming “yes” vote, any effect it had on the national stage died quicker than Canadian teams’ hopes of Stanley Cup glory.
At least we Albertans, with a nudge, might recall that Jason Kenney-inspired plebiscite. The rest of Canada didn’t give it a moment’s thought at the time. Those few who did probably just shrugged and thought: “Those rubes in Alberta are complaining again.”
Compare that with reaction to this threatened referendum regarding Alberta leaving the Canada Pension Plan. The two items aren’t that dissimilar, yet reaction across the country is staggeringly different. And therein lies the attraction driving this recent change of heart.
I still don’t think Alberta needs its own pension plan, but I’m sure most Quebecers don’t want to leave Canada either. It’s the threat that’s the thing. If it is credible, people take notice. If not, they quickly turn their attention elsewhere.
This pension proposition has sharp teeth. Because while the rest of Canada knows Alberta will not separate, they also know, deep down, this province is an economic engine that benefits them.
They understand if the biggest contributor to a plan threatens to take its bit of the cake and vamoose, then the size of future slices is suddenly in doubt.
Like it or not, they have accepted, however reluctantly, this province gives more than it gets, so the pension change proposal is much more of a threat to their own future financial well-being than any suggestion Alberta would ever become a separate country.
It’s what I’ve always argued: turn off the energy taps, make Canadians feel it in their wallets and the nonsensical Green levies and anti-pipeline rules will be dust within a month. Today, inflation is slowly doing that job, but if our previous provincial governments had found enough courage we wouldn’t have had to wait so long for this sea change.
Naturally, this pension proposal is making us outliers among the various premiers as well as our prime minister. Good. Being popular at the poker table is never a good thing.
So now, as Quebec long ago learned, we need to stretch this out as long as possible. Voting on this pension scheme is the last thing we should do. Let it simmer.
Yes, this Alberta pension plan gets my vote. Right up until I cast one.
Chris Nelson is a regular Herald columnist.
Nelson: The threat of an Alberta pension plan is enough
9
10
07.12.2023
Maybe there’s some merit to this Alberta pension plan idea after all.
I’ve previously written about how the whole thing seems daft and any promised referendum would never pass muster with most Albertans who would wisely choose security over adventure when it comes to their collective retirement.
Still, changing your mind isn’t yet deemed a Criminal Code offence, although it’s certainly enough to get you excommunicated by previous social media fans along with angry denunciations of treason.
Actually, I still think the pension plan won’t fly and was only initially pushed by Danielle Smith’s government as a sop to the Take Back Alberta cohort that helped her become premier, and that has recently taken control of the UCP’s executive. It’s a red herring, promoting splitting from Canada without actually splitting from Canada, if you get the drift. In short: yet more political posturing.
So, what’s changed? It’s the reaction........
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