Sask. not considering leaving CPP, premier says
CBC
Premier Scott Moe said Thursday the Saskatchewan government is not considering pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan, as Alberta has threatened to do.
"From Saskatchewan's perspective, we've been happy and I think the CPP has provided a great value not only to all Canadians but to Saskatchewan residents. We have had no discussions nor are we planning to have any discussions on pulling out."
The Alberta government has launched an advertising campaign discussing the possibility of leaving the pension plan.
The potential move has prompted federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to call a meeting with provincial finance ministers on Friday.
"The CPP has been the bedrock of a secure and dignified retirement," Freeland said at a news conference. "I have heard the concerns of many Canadians, including many Albertans."
On Thursday, Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner tabled legislation that lays the groundwork for an Alberta pension plan.
"I want to make clear that we want to hear everyone out," Horner said hours before the legislation was tabled.
In question period on Thursday morning in Regina, Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck asked Moe what the government's intentions were.
"Next door in Alberta, the UCP seems hellbent on dragging Alberta out of the CPP and this government has floated the idea before. Will the premier commit to keeping Saskatchewan in the CPP so that Saskatchewan people can count on this cost-of-living security?"
Moe did not answer multiple questions posed by Beck and finance critic Trent Wotherspoon, but Finance Minister Donna Harpauer did.
"We do understand the value of the CPP to people in our province and we will be watching very closely what Alberta is doing. Keeping in mind the process for them to apply to be removed from CPP will be years and years in the making," Harpauer said.
She said Alberta would hold a referendum first and that a division of funds would be in dispute.
Harpauer said she spoke with Horner on Wednesday evening and that Alberta's decision would affect Saskatchewan.
"We do not see this as pressing and urgent today. What we need to have a discussion with the federal government [about] is the inequity and division that they are creating with the removal of the carbon tax in one area of Canada for heating fuel and not for the rest of Canadians."
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