Danielle Smith runs the idea of an Alberta pension plan referendum in May up the flagpole – then yanks it halfway down again

From time to time, Calgary Herald columnist Rick Bell has been used by Alberta Conservatives to float their trial balloons.

So when Mr. Bell reported yesterday morning https://calgarysun.com/opinion/columnists/bell-smith-says-alberta-pension-plan-vote-could-be-as-early-as-may that Premier Danielle Smith was thinking about holding a referendum on whether Alberta should dump the Canada Pension Plan and set up its own pension scheme as early as May 2023, he created an instant buzz.

Mr. Bell’s column didn’t mean the United Conservative Party actually planned to hold a referendum in May. There’s a pretty good argument that would amount to political suicide.

After all, say what you will about cranky old Boomers, they get out and vote, even if astonishing numbers of them ignore their own interests and vote Conservative.

But when CPP recipients and those about to retire started to realize that if Ms. Smith got her way, their pensions would almost certainly end up being transferred into a new plan that is smaller and less secure, had higher unfunded liabilities and was probably badly managed, that would scare the beejeepers out of large numbers of otherwise reliable Conservative voters with predictable results in the polling booth. |Read more https://albertapolitics.ca/2022/12/danielle-smith-runs-the-idea-of-an-alberta-pension-plan-referendum-in-may-up-the-flagpole-then-yanks-it-halfway-down-again/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=danielle-smith-runs-the-idea-of-an-alberta-pension-plan-referendum-in-may-up-the-flagpole-then-yanks-it-halfway-down-again|
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