Alberta Liberal leader calls for 75% threshold on CPP referendum

Dear Editor,

I support the CPP. An Alberta Pension Plan will expose Alberta workers to unnecessary risk and make Alberta a pariah in the rest of Canada. The UCP government shouldn’t even be entertaining this idea. But they will almost certainly force a referendum. If we have to have one, let’s make it fair. The threshold for leaving the CPP should require no less than 75 per cent of Albertans voting in favour with a clear and certain question.

We are not talking about a simple policy change. We are discussing permanently and fundamentally changing a program Albertans have spent decades paying into. A program Albertans have planned our entire lives around. A monumental change like this demands a larger threshold for support than fifty percent plus one. What’s good enough for daylight saving time isn’t good enough for our pensions.

If Alberta Liberals sat in the Legislature, we would put forward this amendment. But our absence in the Legislature doesn’t stop us from raising our voices in defence of Albertans. We call on all MLAs to bring this amendment forward. Drastic and life changing decisions should not be made with a slim majority.

A comfortable retirement for Albertans is too important. Decades of hard work from millions of Albertans is too sacred. And fifty percent plus one is too small a margin. I implore the   legislature to do the right thing and stand with the Alberta Liberal Party on this issue.

John Roggeveen, 

Alberta Liberal Leader

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