EDMONTON – Albertans deserve answers on the UCP government’s decision to fire the board of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), says Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) president Gil McGowan.

“There are billions of dollars of pension assets controlled by AIMCo. These funds belong to workers, not the government,” says McGowan. “So, when the government fires the Board and replaces them with one person, the Minister of Finance Nate Horner, we’re more than a little concerned.

“It was the UCP government under Jason Kenney that forced public-sector pensions to put their money in AIMCo. We have had concerns with AIMCo for years, but it’s more than a little disconcerting for the government to sack the Board and make the announcement late in the day via press release.

“Albertans are owed answers. Workers with money in pensions need to know they are secure. They remember Danielle Smith musing about using pension funds to prop up oil and gas companies that couldn’t otherwise get financing. They remember Danielle Smith musing about setting up a sovereign wealth fund, but she hasn’t been clear where the money would come from. Albertans are jittery. Rightly so.

“Pension plans are about being prudent and carefully managing risk. Precipitous actions like this do not inspire confidence that the UCP can be trusted with the retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of Albertans, or that they can be trusted to successfully and safely run an Alberta-only alternative to the CPP.”

-30-

MEDIA CONTACT:
Tony Clark
Director of Research, AFL
Email: tclark@afl.org