Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Muta]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1605036564786077696

[direwolf]

The comments on that tweet are something else. Just a total cesspool of idiots.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by direwolf

The comments on that tweet are something else. Just a total cesspool of idiots.

Our province is downright stupid, its becoming clearer and clearer.

[PsYcNeT]

The stupidity is excusable, but the downright malicious glee they get from denying sound policy and stripping away protections in the name of short-sighted individualism is what's truly ####ed up.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by direwolf

The comments on that tweet are something else. Just a total cesspool of idiots.

Twitter is and has mostly always been a ####ing cesspool.

[Yoho]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1605931619055017984

[Fuzz]

LOL. What a ####ing muppet. Is she going to sing this song every time the GoC announces anything? So pathetic. What a loser.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

LOL. What a ####ing muppet. Is she going to sing this song every time the GoC announces anything? So pathetic. What a loser.

The level of petulance in Alberta currently is staggering.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

The level of petulance in Alberta currently is staggering.

She has the worlds greatest victim complex.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

She has the worlds greatest victim complex.

I think Yoho is a dude.

[Ozy_Flame]

She's going to use this stupid pee-smelling tripe against everything the Federal government moves forward on, isn't she?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

She's going to use this stupid pee-smelling tripe against everything the Federal government moves forward on, isn't she?

Not if she gets voted out.

So let's vote her the #### out.

[Fuzz]

This is a really good explanation from pension experts on the CPP/proposed APP and details why the plan is pretty dumb. Highly recommend reading the whole thing, it covers lots of areas.

The Canada Pension Plan legislation permits a province to withdraw from the plan if it sets up an equivalent plan. Under the CPP legislation, an Alberta plan would inherit liabilities for all benefits workers earned while working in Alberta since 1966. Because so many Canadians have moved into and out of Alberta since then, determining Alberta’s liabilities would not be easy.

In summary, liabilities and the unfunded liabilities assumed by an APP would be considerably larger than proponents of an APP seem to have contemplated.

Proponents of Alberta’s withdrawal from CPP have suggested that Alberta could persuade the federal and other provincial governments to strike a better deal than what would result from the legal requirements outlined above for transferring assets and liabilities. This would require an amendment to the CPP legislation and that would require the agreement of 2/3 of the provinces representing 2/3 of the population and the federal governmental. It is unlikely that the provinces or the federal government would agree to make a better deal for a province leaving the CPP.

There is also a question of AIMCo’s independence from political interference. Alberta legislation, in addition to the sole authority to appoint AIMCo’s Board, gives the Alberta Government considerable powers over AIMCo. The government has shown that it is willing to use it. The current government has changed laws to deny pension plan boards the ability to leave AIMCo and make other investment arrangements if they so choose after giving due notice. It has also forced Teachers Retirement Fund Board to use AIMCo for investment purposes. These actions have impacted the relationship between AIMCo and large pension plans’ boards.

A duplicate bureaucracy would have to be set up to replace the one currently in place in the Government of Canada to administer the contributions and benefits. This would add costs at the outset, and could well be more expensive on an ongoing basis because of smaller scale. Such complex transitions are lengthy and error-prone. The annual cost of CPP administration (excluding investment costs) is about $780 million a year including the enhanced benefits portion. With a reasonable adjustment for lower economies of scale, Alberta could expect administration to cost more than an amount proportional to its number of contributors and pensioners. Pension expert Keith Ambachtsheer has estimated that total administration costs (not including investment costs) could be anywhere from $260 million to $525 million. Even his lowest estimate represents a significantly higher per-member cost.

Albertans could lose a lot. It’s not clear what they would gain. Over the years, CPP has been reformed, strengthened, and expanded. By all accounts, it is working well. Why would we walk away from that? Why would we leave a national plan where decisions are made through negotiations and agreement among the provinces and the federal government and where no single government of the day holds all the powers over the plan? Why expose ourselves to the risk that an Alberta government might someday declare the plan unaffordable and amend it to deliver a lower pension?

https://abpolecon.ca/2021/09/29/what...-to-albertans/

This looks like a giant expensive load of ####. It's like Brexit, but even dumber.

[RedHot25]

Is there a risk for her, the Premier, in going to this well of complaining/standing up/etc?

For the general public. Aside from the die hard partisans - hello there Yoho - who will support regardless of, well, anything, is there a risk she morphs it into a child complaining, yelling, having a tantrum, etc nonstop? You know the one, that is just nonstop and you can't stand and try to either help and eventually just get to the, "oh enough already, your friggin' life isn't that hard"....and proceed to just generally ignore them all the time as a result?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by RedHot25

Is there a risk for her, the Premier, in going to this well of complaining/standing up/etc?

For the general public. Aside from the die hard partisans - hello there Yoho - who will support regardless of, well, anything, is there a risk she morphs it into a child complaining, yelling, having a tantrum, etc nonstop? You know the one, that is just nonstop and you can't stand and try to either help and eventually just get to the, "oh enough already, your friggin' life isn't that hard"....and proceed to just generally ignore them all the time as a result?

"morphs"......dude she is already there and has been for at least a couple of years.

I grant you it appears to be getting worse.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

This is a really good explanation from pension experts on the CPP/proposed APP and details why the plan is pretty dumb. Highly recommend reading the whole thing, it covers lots of areas.

https://abpolecon.ca/2021/09/29/what...-to-albertans/

This looks like a giant expensive load of ####. It's like Brexit, but even dumber.

Ooph, I never gave much critical thought to an APP because it doesn't pass any initial smell test, but the point about inter-provincial migration is a massive concern and would be very messy.

[The Fisher Account]

There seem to be an awful lot of UCP ideas that when scrutinized by experts, come back as "pretty dumb".

[terryclancy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

LOL. What a ####ing muppet. Is she going to sing this song every time the GoC announces anything? So pathetic. What a loser.

She will if Barry Cooper tells her to.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Ooph, I never gave much critical thought to an APP because it doesn't pass any initial smell test, but the point about inter-provincial migration is a massive concern and would be very messy.

I don't think it's that messy though. You just have people leaving one pension plan and moving to another. That kind of thing happens all the time, and it's not insurmountable.

But of course, just because we can do that and it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean that we should.

[Yikes]

Originally Posted by terryclancy

She will if Barry Cooper tells her to.

Or Rob Anderson.