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EDMONTON – Premier Danielle Smith says if Ottawa comes back this fall with a lowball estimate on Alberta’s share of the Canada Pension Plan, hard questions will have to be asked on next steps.

“When we get that number, we’ll have to decide if they’re being unrealistic and unreasonable about it,” Smith told Shaun Newman on a Thursday podcast.

Smith told Newman a low number changes everything.

“If it’s equal (to) per capita, then that means I’d have to tell Albertans it’s about $93 billion that would be transferred,” Smith told Newman.

“(At that number) we wouldn’t be able to reduce your premiums, and we wouldn’t be able to increase your benefits.

“Is it still worth it?” she asked rhetorically. “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

Alberta estimates it deserves more than half of the national retirement plan, about $334 billion, while the CPP Investment Board has pegged it closer to Alberta’s share of contributions, at about $100 billion.

Canada’s chief actuary is scheduled to review the entire issue and deliver her estimate sometime this fall. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office said Wednesday that no specific date has been announced.

The pension plan issue took off after Smith’s government won last spring’s general election.

Her government has argued Albertans are getting a raw deal under the national retirement plan, which includes all provinces except for Quebec.

The province launched the pension pitch to great fanfare last fall, with a panel conducting telephone town halls to gauge support for Alberta going it alone on pensions.

The public push was put on hold late last year as Smith said Albertans want an agreed upon estimate on what Alberta would be entitled to before deciding whether to press ahead.

While the public campaign has been put on the back burner, it continues to boil and bubble among some supporters of Smith’s United Conservative Party.

At a UCP members-only town hall in late July, Smith found herself defending the delay, and a government marketing push that failed to bring more Albertans on board with the idea.

Smith said she believes critics were able to throw cold water on the idea because of the eye-popping $334-billion number.

“Everybody looked at this and said, ‘Is that for real? Could Alberta really be overpaying that much?’ And the answer is yes, we do overpay that much on every single federal program,” she said.

“We have to get the certainty from the federal government that that is going to be the asset transfer,” she said.

Smith has said about a third of voters love the idea, a third hate it, and a third are open to being swayed.

“I promise you, if we get those numbers in the fall, we will go back out again, and we will hear from Albertans about whether they want a referendum,” said Smith.

A bill her government passed last year compels a referendum be held before the province can pull out of the CPP. It also says the government has the option, once it calls the plebiscite, to decide whether it will be legally bound to act on the result.

Smith has argued the province’s strong financial position and young workforce would deliver better benefits to a separate pension plan than staying in the CPP.

The government’s own Fair Deal panel found in 2020 that only 42 per cent of those polled thought an Alberta pension plan could improve the province’s place in the federation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Calgary’s mayor says repairs on a troubled water main are ahead of schedule in Calgary.

The massive Bearspaw South Feeder Main in the city’s northwest burst in June, forcing the city to ban outdoor water use and urge Calgarians to use their toilets, showers, washing machines and dishwashers less.

A second round of repairs and restrictions that began in late August were slated to be completed Sept. 23, with water rationing to end three days later.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters that work is a week ahead of schedule.

But she says the water restrictions will remain in place until at least Sept. 22 so the pipe can be flushed and the water quality tested.

She also said one of two reviews into the feeder main break is expected to be completed in October.

“We are expecting construction on the Bearspaw South feeder main to be completed this weekend. That’s a week ahead of schedule,” Gondek said Thursday.

“This new construction timeline means you will only need to keep conserving water for about 10 more days. We can actually see the finish line now.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published September 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s opposition parties say they can’t understand why the government insists the province doesn’t need an enforcement unit to help settle disputes between landlords and tenants.

The parties’ reactions come after the government released a $300,000 report earlier this week that laid out how such a unit would work.

Halifax firm Davis Pier Consulting was mandated by the government in 2022 to study how an enforcement unit could manage disputes more efficiently, and the company delivered its report more than a year ago.

Colton LeBlanc, minister of Service Nova Scotia, said that upon reviewing the report the government decided such an enforcement unit would result in more red tape and longer dispute resolution times for both landlords and tenants.

“We took that report, we looked at other jurisdictions that have a compliance enforcement unit … we determined those outcomes would not be desired for Nova Scotians,” LeBlanc said during question period Thursday.

Currently, enforcement of rulings from tenancy hearings is preformed through the province’s sheriff services.

Opposition Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said in an interview it’s baffling the province is not proceeding with an enforcement unit that both tenants and landlords have called for.

“There’s obvious reasons why this is important. We’ve got near zero vacancy rates. We’ve got a premier that’s doubling the population when we don’t have enough houses. Housing disputes are on the rise between tenants and landlords. We’re seeing record numbers of evictions,” Churchill said, adding the report seemed to indicate that such units would offer increased protections to both rental parties.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she finds it “stunning” that about a year ago the province appeared to be moving forward with tenancy enforcement only to decide to scrap the plan. A compliance unit could help protect renters from landlords who are behaving illegally, she added.

“Our question now is who’s in the premier’s ear telling him not to do this? How did this change? Because it remains clear that both tenants and landlord organizations want this enforcement unit,” Chender said, speaking at a housing rally in Halifax Thursday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.