Alberta, Ottawa demand accountability ahead of meeting on Alberta CPP-exit proposal

The Alberta and federal governments are calling on each other to be transparent and accountable ahead of a national meeting Friday on the province’s proposal to quit the Canada Pension Plan.

The Alberta and federal governments are calling on each other to be transparent and accountable ahead of a national meeting Friday on the province’s proposal to quit the Canada Pension Plan.

The two sides exchanged duelling public letters Wednesday as federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland prepares to host the virtual meeting of finance ministers from across Canada to discuss Alberta’s CPP-exit campaign and its ramifications for the rest of the country.

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner, in his letter to Freeland, asserted Ottawa has private data that could affect his government’s claim that Alberta is entitled to 53 per cent of CPP assets if it leaves to run its own program.

Alberta, citing a third-party analysis it commissioned, calculates it should receive $334 billion from the CPP — a figure tied to how much Alberta-based workers have paid linked to compounded investment returns.

Economists and the CPP investment board calculate that number to be far less and more in line with Alberta’s CPP population representation of 15 per cent.

“We expect that the federal government has access to non-public data sources that could impact the calculation of the ($334-billion) asset transfer amount,” Horner wrote to Freeland.

“For this reason, we request that you provide your calculation of the asset transfer amount together with the underlying data supporting the calculation.”