Premier Danielle Smith may have wanted Alberta to go it alone on pensions for more than two decades, but to fulfil her dreams she’ll have to convert a wary Alberta public.
Polls have shown Albertans clearly don’t dream her dream with her. Pick your pollster: it was opposed by a margin of 31 per cent to 60 in a Janet Brown poll last October, or 21 per cent to 54 in Leger this spring.
With numbers like that, it’s a heftier turnaround task than persuading a majority of Quebecers to separate from Canada after decades of unwillingness. Or, for a local example, getting rural and small-town Albertans to suddenly prefer NDP over UCP.
Smith has the benefit of the premier’s bully pulpit to tilt public opinion in her favour on this one, to persuade people as she’s been arguing since at least 2003 that Alberta has “the obligation” to opt out of the Canada Pension Plan, and pay much lower premiums for equal or higher benefits.
She has now also armed herself with some of the biggest, rosiest numbers ever wielded in all the years of hardened conservatives trying to turn the public tide on the pension issue.
Billions upon billions
At the centre of her new argument is that eye-popping figure, $334 billion, which a government-commissioned report estimates Alberta is entitled to if it wants to become like Quebec, and separates from CPP.
That’s one-third of a trillion dollars, or more than half the CPP program’s total assets in a fund that collects contributions and pays out pensions of every Canadian who lives in a province that doesn’t start with Q.
For perspective, the amount Alberta is claiming as its rightful share of CPP is more than triple the ransom amount that Austin Powers film villain Dr. Evil demanded from world leaders, with pinky diabolically extended to his mouth. (That’s after the not-good doctor realized $1 million wasn’t a sufficient ask).
Sovereignist leaders would say: separate, and “all this becomes possible.” Smith was musing Thursday about how all sorts of good becomes possible if Albertans agree to start their own nest egg with a $334-billion principal.
Dramatically slashed premiums! Larger paycheques! Higher benefits for seniors! Maybe a $10,000 bonus for retirees!
But the reality checks on the Lifeworks report’s central assumption rolled in almost instantly after the astronomical estimate rolled off the premier’s tongue.
It’s an “impossible figure,” says Michel Leduc, senior managing director of the non-partisan Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, which stewards the assets for Canadians. While he maintains any province has the legal right to withdraw and start its own pension plan, he urged skepticism of the numeric claims.
If other provinces used the “alternate formula” and demanded their shares be paid out too, he explained, there would be a negative balance by the time Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta left. (Sorry, other provinces.)
An executive with the agency in charge of investing Canadians’ federal pension funds, is pushing back on the Alberta pension report’s claim the province would get half the pension plan’s total assets if it left. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
While Smith attributed Alberta’s share to the hard work of Albertans, the Lifeworks report itself attributes about 80 per cent of the province’s claimed share to investment income — the amount CPPIB has made by investing contributions, most of that since the 1990s reforms that boosted CPP premiums but also made the pension board a global investment heavyweight.
If Alberta had its pension funds outside that larger pan-Canadian pool, it’s far from a given that it would have performed nearly as well all these decades.
One could hear a scoff in the voice of University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe as he spoke of the outsized hunk — half! — of the pension pie Alberta believes it deserves. “I think it was a little problematic that the government’s hanging its hat on half the CPP assets, which you think is kind of transparently unreasonable and not going to fly anywhere else in the country,” he said.
In Tombe’s own newly published paper, he estimates Alberta would be more reasonably entitled to 20 or 25 per cent of CPP’s present assets. CPPIB has not worked out its own figure, but Leduc said Tombe’s math is much closer to a realistic figure, though even that may be high.
The ultimate number that Alberta would scoop up if it actually pursues the Alberta Pension Plan dream isn’t Alberta’s to determine, or Lifeworks’ or Tombe’s or even CPPIB’s.
The federal government ultimately determines the asset transfer to a withdrawing province, likely in consultation with the other provinces.
The spectre of higher pension contributions in an Alberta-less CPP may soon attract ire in the rest of Canada. Alberta leaders have a long tradition of spats with Ottawa, but this pie-slice-haggling could draw in Smith’s fellow premiers.
Canada’s other premiers might push back on their Albertan colleague’s ambition to abandon the Canada Pension Plan, as it would likely force other Canadians to pay higher contributions. (The Canadian Press)
But the $334-billion claim will resonate with a slew of people in this province. They have spent generations absorbing conservative rhetoric about how we hard-working, high-earning Albertans send billions of dollars to federal coffers in taxes and premiums, and get far fewer billions returned to us. When the Kenney government held a referendum that purported to demand an end to the equalization program, 62 per cent of voters said yes, a fact Smith often mentioned as she kicked up her rhetorical campaign Thursday.
But in a nod to public discomfort on the pension question, Smith doesn’t even want to commit to a referendum yet, which she’s long promised as a necessary prelude to an APP — and wouldn’t happen until at least 2025, Finance Minister Nate Horner explained to CBC News.
The premier instead appointed an engagement panel to see where public mood is on this. It will be helmed by Jim Dinning, the former provincial treasurer who helped negotiate the modern CPP in the 1990s, and who ran for the Tory leadership decidedly opposed to a candidate who promised an APP — but now says he views the idea as an “intriguing opportunity” that could bring massive investment potential into this province.
Alberta pension plan: The politics and the practicality of going it alone
Provincial government is asking Albertans if they want to leave Canada’s pension plan. Premier Danielle Smith released a report on the feasibility of an Alberta pension plan today, but those who oppose the plan say this is more about politics than pensions.
An Alberta nest-minder
That opened one massive unknown among the many unknowns on what Alberta’s pension plan would look like. Theoretically, the fund could remain managed by CPPIB, but that would have to be approved in legislation by the Ottawa and other provinces that Alberta wishes to spurn here.
Smith could alternately task the Alberta Investment Management Co. (AIMCo) to manage Albertans’ pensions, but that body has not brought in nearly as sterling returns as the federal wealth manager, and is more susceptible to political intervention than the way CPPIB is set up.
To the many Albertans who are unsettled or spooked by the idea of abandoning the stability and reliability of the Canada Pension Plan, Smith is reassuring them they’ll be guaranteed the same benefits or better, and the same contribution rates or better.
She emphasizes the better, and purports there are 344 billion reasons to believe her on that.
There aren’t nearly as many reasons to question that number. But there are several, and when you add in all the uncertainties and risks that surround this monumental go-it-alone leap Alberta’s premier is proposing — well, that figure is probably pretty large as well.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Lions coach Dan Campbell is selling his suburban Detroit home to get more privacy.
“There’s plenty of space, it’s on two acres, the home is beautiful,” Campbell told Crain’s Detroit Business. “It’s just that people figured out where we lived when we lost.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Campbell and wife Holly listed the 7,800-square-foot house in Bloomfield Hills for $4.5 million this week. A deal was pending within 24 hours, Crain’s reported.
Campbell was hired by the Lions in 2021. After a 3-13-1 record that season, the team has become one of the best in the NFL, reaching the NFC championship game last January.
Campbell’s home was built in 2013 for Igor Larionov, a Hockey Hall of Fame member who played for the Detroit Red Wings.
The likely buyers are “huge” Lions fans, said Ashley Crain, who is representing Campbell and the buyers in the sale.
Ariella Kimmel and Mandi Johnson were grabbing a bite to eat in Vienna, when their August trip to the Austrian capital was upended.
The Canadian duo had travelled to the city to see Taylor Swift in concert only to learn her shows would be cancelled because of two men plotting to launch an attack on fans outside the venue, Ernst Happel Stadium.
While Kimmel and Johnson were disappointed they weren’t going to be able to see Swift perform, they made the most of the remainder of their trip. However, the experience serves as a buyer’s beware for Canadians considering jet setting to see their favourite artists or teams.
“If you’re travelling to these concerts, it’s really hard to protect yourself,” said Kimmel, a Toronto-based vice-president at a public affairs firm who had previously travelled with Johnson to see Swift in Las Vegas, Nashville and Stockholm.
Such trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.
In the last year alone, Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys scuttled touring plans after tickets had been sold, while Bruce Springsteen, Usher and Pink had to tell fans they couldn’t take the stage mere hoursbefore show time.
Between airfares, hotels, travel expenses and tickets, last-minute cancellations can leave globe-trotting eventgoers out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
“Regrettably, unpredictability has always been a reality of the industry but it’s increasingly common that there might be things that are going to interrupt your plans, especially plans that you’re really excited about,” said Jenny Kost, the Calgary-based global director of strategic sales initiatives at Corporate Traveller Canada.
“It’s a tricky one because the airline or hotel understands the reason behind your travel but its likelihood of happening or not happening is a little bit outside of their purview.”
Because Swift is known to power through shows even when sick, Kimmel never imagined a concert she was headed to would ever be cancelled, but she always booked plane tickets and hotels that could be rescheduled or refunded — a move she recommends to others travelling for events.
“It’s like common sense, you never know what’s going to happen,” Kimmel said.
However, making use of the rescheduling and refund options her hotel booking and airline tickets had weren’t an option for Kimmel this time because she had already been in Austria for a few days and had very little of her stay left when Swift cancelled.
Had the show been nixed before Kimmel left home, the flexibility baked into the bookings would have been useful, though Kost said such arrangements aren’t cheap.
“There is a cost associated with that that’s not insignificant,” she warned, estimating these kinds of bookings can add hundreds of dollars to your bill and have lots of quirks in the fine print.
The better bet is travel insurance, Kost said. It’s often cheaper than flexible fares and hotel bookings and can reimburse customers for accommodations and flights they have to drop or swap when an event gets cancel or an emergency strikes.
Kost opted for such insurance when she journeyed to Paris to see Swift over the summer and bought it again in a cab on her way to Mexico for a wedding. The insurance cost her about $150 for a week, but when she had to extend her stay because she fell ill, it covered the cost of all of her accommodations.
She doesn’t encourage people to wait until the last minute to buy the insurance like she did because buying it early can provide some reprieve when an event you’re travelling to is cancelled well in advance.
Travel costs aside, people heading out-of-town for events that wind up cancelled also have to consider whether they will get the money they spent on entry fees and tickets back.
In Kimmel and Johnson’s case, they paid Ticketmaster about $300 per seat. They learned just after the cancellation that they would be refunded — but not for an $85 transaction fee they were charged when purchasing the tickets.
“We paid $85 to not see her but I guess that in the grand scheme of what we were going to pay, it’s not a lot at all,” Kimmel said.
They did not opt to buy insurance on their tickets, which Ticketmaster offers through Allianz Global Assistance for $8, plus tax. Allianz’s vice-president of marketing and insights Dan Keon said the insurance offers coverage up to $1,000 per ticket.
In addition to offering refunds if an event is cancelled by a venue or promoter, the coverage can provide a reimbursement for a variety of situations. Those include if you are facing a serious medical issue or death, have a family member in life-threatening condition, are summoned by the military or are delayed in arriving at the venue because of a common transportation carrier.
If you’re going to opt into the insurance, Keon said review the terms ahead of time, so you understand exactly what scenarios you will be covered in.
The insurance, for example, can’t be used in the event of a pandemic, war or natural disaster.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Losing a loved one is never easy, and the legal steps that follow can add even more stress to an already difficult time.
For years, families in Vancouver (and Canada in general) have struggled with a complex probate process—filled with paperwork and legal challenges.
Thankfully, recent changes to Canada’s probate laws aim to make this process simpler and easier to navigate.
Let’s unearth how these updates can simplify the process for you and your family.
What is probate?
Probate might sound complicated, but it’s simply the legal process of settling someone’s estate after death.
Here’s how it works.
Validating the will. The court checks if the will is legal and valid.
Appointing an executor. If named in the will, the executor manages the estate. If not, the court appoints someone.
Settling debts and taxes. The executor (and you) pays debts and taxes before anything can be given.
Distributing the estate. Once everything is settled, the executor distributes the remaining assets according to the will or legal rules.
Probate ensures everything is done by the book, giving you peace of mind during a difficult time.
Recent Changes in Canadian Probate Laws
Several updates to probate law in the country are making the process smoother for you and your family.
Here’s a closer look at the fundamental changes that are making a real difference.
1) Virtual witnessing of wills
Now permanent in many provinces, including British Columbia, wills can be signed and witnessed remotely through video calls.
Such a change makes estate planning more accessible, especially for those in remote areas or with limited mobility.
2) Simplified process for small estates
Smaller estates, like those under 25,000 CAD in BC, now have a faster, simplified probate process.
Fewer forms and legal steps mean less hassle for families handling modest estates.
3) Substantial compliance for wills
Courts can now approve wills with minor errors if they reflect the person’s true intentions.
This update prevents unnecessary legal challenges and ensures the deceased’s wishes are respected.
These changes help make probate less stressful and more efficient for you and other families across Canada.
The Probate Process and You: The Role of a Probate Lawyer
(Image: Freepik.com)
Working with a probate lawyer in Vancouver can significantly simplify the probate process, especially given the city’s complex legal landscape.
Here’s how they can help.
Navigating the legal process
Probate lawyers ensure all legal steps are followed, preventing costly mistakes and ensuring the estate is managed properly.
Handling paperwork and deadlines
They manage all the paperwork and court deadlines, taking the burden off of you during this difficult time.
Resolving disputes
If conflicts arise, probate lawyers resolve them, avoiding legal battles.
Providing you peace of mind
With a probate lawyer’s expertise, you can trust that the estate is being handled efficiently and according to the law.
With a skilled probate lawyer, you can ensure the entire process is smooth and stress-free.
Why These Changes Matter
The updates to probate law make a big difference for Canadian families. Here’s why.
Less stress for you. Simplified processes mean you can focus on grieving, not paperwork.
Faster estate settlements. Estates are settled more quickly, so beneficiaries don’t face long delays.
Fewer disputes. Courts can now honor will with minor errors, reducing family conflicts.
Accessible for everyone. Virtual witnessing and easier rules for small estates make probate more accessible for everyone, no matter where you live.
With these changes, probate becomes smoother and more manageable for you and your family.
How to Prepare for the Probate Process
Even with the recent changes, being prepared makes probate smoother. Here are a few steps to help you prepare.
Create a will. Ensure a valid will is in place to avoid complications.
Choose an executor. Pick someone responsible for managing the estate and discuss their role with them.
Organize documents. Keep key financial and legal documents in one place for easy access.
Talk to your family. Have open conversations with your family to prevent future misunderstandings.
Get legal advice. Consult with a probate lawyer to ensure everything is legally sound and up-to-date.
These simple steps make the probate process easier for everyone involved.
Wrapping Up: Making Probate Easier in Vancouver
Recent updates in probate law are simplifying the process for families, from virtual witnessing to easier estate rules. These reforms are designed to ease the burden, helping you focus on what matters—grieving and respecting your dead loved ones’ final wishes.
Despite these changes, it’s best to consult a probate lawyer to ensure you can manage everything properly. Remember, they’re here to help you during this difficult time.
