Alberta CPP-exit panel argues with callers, tries to persuade naysayers at town hall
EDMONTON — The panel hearing from Albertans on quitting the Canada Pension Plan argued with callers and tried to persuade naysayers in its third telephone town hall session Thursday night.
Panel chair Jim Dinning fired back at two callers, one of whom said Alberta’s claim to half the CPP is nothing but naked greed.
That caller, named Deb, said “If we pull 53 per cent of the assets out (of the CPP) we are going to decimate the pensions for my relatives that live in other provinces.
“I am just sick about that.”
“How can we do that to people that we know and love? How can we be so greedy and so selfish that we are going to take as much as we can for us and leave them out in the cold?
“That is just plain heartless.”
Another caller, named Heather, said the pension debate is “asking Albertans to put ourselves as Albertans first, Canadians second, whereas I think a lot of us identify much more as a Canadian before we identity as an Albertan.”
Dinning responded to both, saying “As an Albertan and as a proud Canadian, I don’t feel that Albertans need to take a back seat to anybody in the contributions Albertans make to this country.”
He said it’s a mathematical fact that Alberta pays in more than it gets back from the rest of the country and at times has been shortchanged.
“I would be troubled if we found ourselves on our heels defending ourselves because somebody suggested that Albertans for whatever reason are greedy,” he said.
“I don’t think we are, and I know a number of Albertans who don’t believe they are either.”
This was the third of five telephone town halls hosted by Dinning and panel members Mary Ritchie and Moin Yahya.
Dinning stressed at the outset of the evening that they are independent fact-finders taking the
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