Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault says while Alberta is legally allowed to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan, doing so would be a “one way ticket,” with no chance of return.
Alberta’s UCP has been mulling the idea of leaving the CPP and forming its own pension plan since 2020, but Premier Danielle Smith recently took the next step by releasing a report about a plan to do so and saying public feedback would determine the need for a referendum.
Boissonnault told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday that once a province chooses to withdraw from the CPP, it kicks off a timeline laid out in the 1965 legislation and can’t be undone.
“If Albertans decided a referendum to pull out of the CPP, they will be able to do that, but it’s a one way ticket,” said Boissonnault, who is also an Alberta MP.
“You don’t get to come back, that’s also very clear in this legislation,” he also said, adding he believes Alberta’s withdrawal would be “destabilizing.”
The report by the consulting company LifeWorks — on which the Alberta government is basing its cost-benefit calculations for a possible Alberta Pension Plan — estimates that the Western province will be entitled to $334 billion by the time it leaves the CPP in 2027, which is nearly half the total amount in the federal fund.
Smith and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went back and forth this week about the possible move.
In an open letter to Smith, Trudeau wrote that “Alberta’s withdrawal would weaken the pensions of millions of seniors and hardworking people in Alberta and right across the country. The harm it would cause is undeniable.”
Smith fired back, calling the prime minister’s letter “inappropriate in tone.”
“It was overwraught,” she added. “The calculation in the report suggests yes, there will be some impact to the rest of Canada if Alberta chooses to go its own way, but it’s a matter of $175 per person.”
Smith was not available for an interview on CTV’s Question Period.
According to the Canada Pension Plan Act, a province wishing to withdraw must negotiate with the federal government and come to an agreement on how to do so.
When asked whether the federal government has plans to conduct its own analysis of how much Alberta might be owed if it chooses to go forward with its plans to leave the CPP and whether it has any recourse to prevent Alberta’s exit, Boissonnault said at this point the focus is on keeping the current system intact.
“The Prime Minister is very clear. He’s asked all ministers to do what they can to support Albertans who want to stay in the pension plan, and to defend the Canadian pension plan,” he said.
“So we’re going to do that work,” he added. “I suspect we’ll have numbers from finance and various different departments on this over time.”
Boissonnault said this is an issue on which the federal and Alberta governments “disagree fiercely,” and said he believes Albertans don’t need the “stress,” “anxiety,” and “distraction” of the debate right now.
With files from CTV’s Question Period Senior Producer Stephanie Ha and CTV News Edmonton’s Craig Ellingson
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
