Alberta passes pension-exit legislation as fall session wraps

Alberta politicians wrapped up the fall sitting of the legislature in the early hours Thursday, with Premier Danielle Smith’s government cutting off debate to pass a bill mandating a referendum be held before the province could quit the Canada Pension Plan.

Government house leader Joseph Schow said time limits were imposed on the last two stages of debate, because the Opposition NDP had signalled on social media it would try to stall the bill for weeks by making endless speeches about it in the house.

“I’m not in the position as the government house leader to call their bluff and see how late they want to sit,” Schow said Thursday in an interview.

“My job was to get the legislation through (and) get it passed in the most democratic way possible, and so I used a democratic amendment to do exactly that.”