EDMONTON — Alberta's Opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith’s government needs to end its long-running dalliance with pulling the province out of the Canada Pension Plan and come clean on its plans.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley says her party would not pursue an Alberta Pension Plan, which the United Conservative government has been studying for almost three years without resolution.
Notley says the idea does not make economic sense and is opposed by a majority of Albertans, but says the UCP continues to publicly toy with it to try to score political points in its feud with the federal government.
It now looms as an issue ahead of the scheduled May 29 election.
Smith's office says in a statement that work continues on a third-party analysis of an Alberta pension plan and says no matter what happens, Albertans will get to vote in a referendum on whether to go it alone.
The Alberta Pension plan report stems from a May 2020 panel report urging Alberta explore the idea.
In March 2021, then-premier Jason Kenney said work on the report was almost done and his government was just weeks away from announcing next steps.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2023
The Canadian Press
