Albertans still not sold on provincial pension plan, new poll suggests

A recent poll asking Albertans about high-profile legislation shows people are still skeptical an Alberta-only pension plan is the best way forward.

Fifty-seven per cent of those surveyed in the Viewpoint Alberta poll, shared with CBC News, said they oppose the province's proposal to adopt an Alberta Pension Plan. Meanwhile, 22 per cent support the idea and 20 per cent neither support nor oppose.

Thirty per cent said they believe Albertans would receive more money by jumping ship. 

Common Ground, a University of Alberta research project, questioned 1,123 Alberta residents about hot-topic issues using an online survey between Jan. 22 and Feb. 25.

"Overall support for an Alberta pension plan has decreased since the last time we polled six months ago. It's dropped about six percentage points," said political science professor Jared Wesley, who leads Common Ground.

"What's really interesting is that the views on the pension plan are highly determined by a person's partisan identification."

Wesley says the poll's findings show that the provincial government tends to make policy moves that are popular among UCP members — with the exception of pension.

While UCP supporters are more in favour of a provincial pension plan, the numbers show that only 36 per cent of UCP supporters polled agree that it would be better than the CPP, compared with four per cent of NDP supporters.

"Even United Conservative identifiers are firmly against abandoning the Canada Pension Plan, and yet the government still is wanting to proceed. It doesn't make much sense from a public opinion standpoint," he said.

In September 2023, the provincial government released a report it commissioned suggesting Albertans are entitled to more than $330 billion in pension contributions if Alberta were to withdraw from the CPP. Critics have called that calculation overblown.

More than half — 53 per cent — of Albertans polled by Common Ground said they disagree the province is entitled to half of the national plan's assets if it were to withdraw. Twenty-six per cent agree.

The province's finance minister Nate Horner said in February he was told Canada's chief actuary plans to deliver a federal estimate of Alberta's share of the pension plan in the fall.

The survey also shows the majority of Albertans want schools to require parental consent before students aged 15 or younger can use a name or pronoun at school other than what they were given at birth.

The proposed legislation, announced by Premier Danielle Smith in January, has the support of 56 per cent of Albertans polled — compared with 30 per cent against it.