More than half of Albertans are a no-go on leaving CPP: Leger

A new poll from Leger suggests Albertans are cooling down on the thought of a potential provincial pension plan.

The data, released Monday, says support for the province to separate from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) in favour of an Alberta Pension Plan (APP) is down five points since October, mostly due to a decrease in support among United Conservative Party (UCP) supporters.

Sixty-nine per cent of Albertans say they are familiar with the proposed plan to withdraw from the CPP and create a provincial pension plan, which is down slightly from October’s data.

Leger says overall, Albertans are less informed on the UCP’s plans for pensions than they were three months ago.

This could also be a contributing factor to lower support levels, especially among UCP voters.

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More than half — 52 per cent — of respondents said they don’t think Alberta should ditch the CPP, up from 48 percent in October and 54 per cent last April.

The vast majority of respondents also say CPP is or will be an important part of their retirement.

In both October 2023 and January 2024 data collections, more than three-quarters of those surveyed said this was the case.

More than half of people also say they know how much they will receive from their federal pension plan.

CPP payments should be distributed equitably to all Canadians is a sentiment held by nearly three-quarters of respondents, but that number decreases when asked if provinces who commit more to the CPP should get a higher CPP payment — 56 per cent believe that should be the case.

In December, Alberta Pension Plan Report engagement panel chair Jim Dinning, announced further consultations on the subject would be paused until the federal government returned with a hard number on how much the province would be entitled to should it leave the CPP.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith previously claimed the province would be entitled to about $334 billion.