Our Jordan Bateman gives you the heads-up on Clean BC and Alberta’s hard look at CPP.
💸 The Eby government’s CleanBC plan will rip $28 billion out of the B.C. economy by 2030, putting the province at risk of recession. Those aren’t ICBA’s numbers, or the Opposition’s, or the Business Council of British Columbia’s – even though it was the work of BCBC economists Ken Peacock and Jock Finlayson that uncovered them. It’s the analysis of the provincial government itself of CleanBC measures such as the carbon tax rising to $170 per tonne by 2030, a “hard” emissions caps imposed on heavy industry and the fossil fuel sector, heating options restricted to electricity for businesses and households, and a plethora of other “stretch regulations and standards”– which all result in higher costs. This economic hit will reach across every industry, with heavy industry down 20% and construction and forestry down 14%. Are you willing to see the provincial economy gutted for this?
💰 In Alberta, it’s pension tension time, as the province released a LifeWorks analysis showing the province would be better off leaving the Canada Pension Plan and running their own Alberta Pension Plan, a la Quebec. The report says Alberta should get 53% of CPP assets – some $334 billion. There’s no doubt Alberta has got the short end of the stick in equalization and pension contributions, but this CPP exit formula is based on outdated law. Nonetheless, the province is doing more analysis and the CPP folks are pushing back hard. No one knows yet if there really is a business case to move on from CPP, but more scrutiny on what Ottawa costs provinces is always welcome. We’ll see what former finance minister Jim Dinning comes up with in his review for the Alberta government.
