It’s only half as bad as you were told by the media, Alberta Investment Management Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Uebelein says in a letter to stakeholders — the Crown-owned funds-management corporation only lost $2.1 billion gambling on market volatility. The first news reports on April 22 indicated the loss
Continue readingTag: canada pension plan
Alberta Politics: New management is now required at AIMCo to restore trust after $4-billion loss
Having lost more than $4 billion on an incomprehensible gamble on market volatility, senior management of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. needs to apologize and resign. AIMCo is supposed to manage working Albertans’ retirement savings and what’s left of Peter Lougheed’s Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. In other words, working
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Loudest message from Fort Saskatchewan ‘Fair Deal Panel’ town hall? Hands off our CPP!
The visit of Premier Jason Kenney’s “Fair Deal Panel” to Fort Saskatchewan, an industrial oil town just northeast of Edmonton, may have been intended to be a separatist open-mike night when it was added as a stop on the travel itinerary by the UCP’s brain trust. Whatever they expected when
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hey Canada! Alberta here: Get off our lawn! And would you mow it, please?
Watch out, Rest of Canada! Jason Kenney, our leader here in Alberta, has mastered the art of sucking and blowing at the same time! You’re in for it now! This is the New Alberta, and you’re going to need to get the hell out of our way! We’ll be taking
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Excellent question: If a referendum’s good enough for the CPP, why not for the teachers’ pension fund?
“Jason Kenney says he will use a referendum to determine if Albertans want their Canada Pension Plan shifted to AIMCo,” Jonathan Teghtmeyer, Associate Communications Coordinator of the Alberta Teachers Association, observed before asking a perfectly reasonable question on social media yesterday. So, Mr. Teghtmeyer tweeted, “why won’t he allow teachers
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It turns out the UCP’s dream of grabbing the Canada Pension Plan won’t be as easy as it would like you to believe
How much of the United Conservative Party’s radical project to transform Alberta into a dystopic firewalled statelet, most of the details of which were revealed by Premier Jason Kenney for the first time at Preston Manning’s Red Deer clambake on Saturday, was predicated on a Conservative victory in last month’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will the UCP’s scheme to restrict reproductive rights play in Ponoka? Maybe not …
Bill 207, which if it was honestly titled would have been called an Act to Restrict Reproductive and Other Rights in Alberta, does not seem to be playing particularly well, even in Ponoka. Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party stirred up a hornet’s nest with this sneaky bill — disingenuously entitled
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Preston Manning, the bad penny of Canadian politics, turns up again on Alberta’s sovereignty-association commission
Preston Manning is the bad penny of Canadian politics. So no one should be surprised he’s turned up again! Much good rarely comes from Mr. Manning’s interventions in politics, which never seem to end, so don’t expect positive results from his appointment by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to what might
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Wexit’ isn’t likely, but that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous
“Wexit” is dangerous, but not because it’s ever likely to come to pass. The economic case for Prairie separatism is so obviously lame — because of what’s happened to the world market for fossil fuels and because people who actually live where there’s tidewater aren’t interested and never will be
Continue readingAlberta Politics: This just in from washed-up Wildroser: Alberta separation if necessary, but not necessarily separation!
It looks as if Rob Anderson has found a new gig — Alberta separation if necessary, but not necessarily Alberta separation. For those of you scratching your heads and asking the most obvious question — Rob Who? — Mr. Anderson is one of the few Alberta politicians to have crossed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Government opts to use sophomoric sarcastic tweets to counter visit by teenaged environmental activist
Apparently uncertain how to respond to news Greta Thunberg will soon visit Alberta, the Kenney Government seems to have opted for adolescent sarcasm as an appropriate counter to the 16-year-Old Swedish environmental activist’s message. “We trust that Ms. Thunberg will recognize Alberta’s leading human rights and environmental standards,” said Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP’s Friday Morning Massacre purges NDP appointees from Alberta’s boards, agencies and commissions
You almost have to admire Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government for the thoroughness of its sudden purge of NDP appointees to government agencies, boards and commissions yesterday. The Friday Morning Massacre began with news the UCP was clearing out NDP appointments on the boards of 10 post-secondary institutions and the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on this week’s Canada Pension Plan announcement – and the Wall government’s surprising decision to merely delay rather than outright obstruct a national boost to retirement security.For further reading…- Kevin Milligan, Sheila Block, Adam Mayer…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Cons and the Never-Ending War on the Poor
You might think Lisa Raitt and her Cons might stop attacking the agreement to enhance the Canada Pension Plan now that a deal has been reached.But no, Raitt is still on the offensive…Now suggesting it's the work of Big Brother.While Big Business…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Con Plan to Hurt the Old Goes Down in Flames
I can only imagine the frenzied state the scary Con Lisa Raitt must be in right now. But you can be sure it isn't pretty.And she is no doubt still howling at the moon, like her miserable leader Rona Ambrose.But it won't do those ghastly Cons an…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Explaining how the right wing echo chamber operates … operates … operates … The Strange Case of the Canada Pension Plan
PHOTOS: “Alright, everyone, here’s what we’re gonna say: ‘Expanding the CPP is a solution in search of a problem.’ Everybody got that? Fraser? Check! APEC? Check! CFIB? Check! Taxpayers? Check! … ” Actual right-wing echo chamber conferenc…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Canada Pension Plan and the Cruelty of the Cons
As long as Stephen Harper was in power there was never any hope of enhancing the Canada Pension Plan.Because he always claimed the economy was too fragile to afford it, he didn't like the idea of pensions, and believed that Canadians should save fo…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: When Tories, the Fraser Institute and media team up to attack plans to improve the CPP, you have to know it needs fixing!
ILLUSTRATIONS: A luxurious retirement? Do you get the feeling that ship may have sailed? Well, rich conservatives and their flunkies want you to think that a better Canada Pension Plan is a bad idea anyway. Below: Conservative Party of Canada Finance C…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Phillipe Orliange discusses the significance of inequality in the developing world as a problem for both fairness and economic development:The question of inequality has become so important because societal …
Continue readingPaul Martin—Canada’s greatest finance minister?
Paul Martin’s official prime ministerial portrait was unveiled on Parliament Hill on Wednesday. During the ceremony, he was referred to as the greatest finance minister in our history—lavish praise indeed. But deserving? I believe so. He did at lea…
Continue reading