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The Alberta government’s public push for a provincial pension plan will cost $7.5 million, spending the Opposition NDP says is a misuse of taxpayer money.
Shannon Phillips, NDP finance critic for pensions, said at a news conference Wednesday there are more important challenges, including a housing and homelessness crisis, that could be better addressed with the cash instead.
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“We are very concerned that Albertans’ own money — millions and millions of dollars — is being used to market what amounts to falsehoods, absolutely mythical numbers to construct an alternate set of facts and an alternate reality in which there is a pot of gold at the end of an Alberta pension plan rainbow. None of it is real,” said Phillips, who also expressed worry the price tag for billboards and digital, television, and radio ads may grow.
Savannah Johannsen, press secretary to Finance Minister Nate Horner, said in a Tuesday statement to Postmedia the government’s campaign is set to run until spring 2024. It will coincide with the Jim Dinning-led public engagement panel.
“In order for every Albertan to have the facts and be aware of the engagement sessions, Alberta’s government has allocated $7.5 million towards a public awareness campaign,” Johannsen stated.
In comparison, the UCP put about $5 million in taxpayer money towards trying to recruit workers to Alberta from other provinces.
While in government, the NDP put some $9 million towards a campaign about its environmental initiative in 2016 ahead of the rollout of the consumer carbon tax, drawing criticism from then-Wildrose leader Brian Jean, who called it a waste of money aimed at convincing Albertans of something they didn’t want.
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The UCP’s pension campaign includes an online survey, ending Dec. 10, that asks Albertans questions about how they would like to structure a provincial pension plan and allocate potential savings.
It’s claims that Albertans can get more benefits with lower contributions are based on numbers from a third-party report, released last week. It estimates if the province were to withdraw and start its own pension plan, it should get $334 billion of the Canada Pension Plan’s asset pool, or 53 per cent, by 2027. Economists and CPP Investments have questioned that calculation, and any asset transfer would be dependent on complex negotiations and potential legal battles.
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The UCP government has said it won’t move forward unless Albertans approve it through a referendum, and Premier Danielle Smith has said it wants Albertans to see how they would benefit from a provincial plan.
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“We’re just trying to be very factual about this,” she said last week.
On Monday, Phillips announced the launch of an NDP survey in response to the government’s survey failing to ask whether Albertans approve of a provincial pension plan or not.
“It’s designed to give Danielle Smith an excuse to impose on Alberta seniors and businesses the agenda she’s been pushing for two decades,” Phillips said. In contrast, the NDP’s survey asks respondents whether Alberta should leave the Canada Pension Plan, and why or why not.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley has said the claims made in the report from consultancy LifeWorks are based on a “make-believe” estimate of how much money Alberta could reasonably get out of the CPP, and the government’s efforts appear constructed to manipulate public opinion after Albertans have long been unsupportive of creating a provincial plan.
lijohnson@postmedia.com
X: @reportrix
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