Alberta's preference for Stephen Harper was well known within AIMCo, sources say

financialpost.com:

The Alberta government’s desire to bring in former prime ministerStephen Harper to chair Alberta Investment Management Corp. was telegraphed so strongly that people within the province’s $160-billion-plus pension and endowment manager reached out more than once in the past year to try to set up a meeting between Harper and AIMCo’s now former chief executive, Evan Siddall.

However, sources say, a meeting between the two men did not happen.

Earlier this month, Siddall was abruptly relieved of his duties as CEO by Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner while at an offsite gathering of AIMCo personnel in Edmonton. After Siddall left, Horner stuck around to tell the assembled staff what had just happened to their boss.

The government did not have the power to get rid of AIMCo’s CEO directly, only its 10-member board, which was done earlier the same day. Once Horner stepped into the role of chair and sole director, he relieved Siddall of his duties and promised the public a new board within 30 days. The following day, Ray Gilmour, Alberta’s deputy minister of executive council and the province’s top bureaucrat, was named interim CEO.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told the Calgary Herald on Friday that the new board, or at least some members, could be in place at AIMCo as soon as this week.

The purge of the board and CEO was an extremely unusual move by corporate governance standards. Siddall, who had been CEO since 2021, was not accused of any wrongdoing and the board had not tried or been asked to get rid of him, according to four sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about AIMCo.

In fact, the directors were largely happy with his performance, the sources said, with both internal employee satisfaction and external