Premier Danielle Smith formed the Alberta Next Panel during a period of tense relations with the federal government.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
An Alberta government panel created by Premier Danielle Smith says the province should hold referendums on the creation of an Alberta Pension Plan, immigration and constitutional changes in order to achieve greater autonomy from Ottawa.
The Alberta Next Panel’s report, published mid-afternoon Friday, recommended that Ms. Smith’s government proceed to a referendum asking residents if Alberta should exit the Canada Pension Plan for a standalone provincial plan, as well as whether it should exercise greater control over immigration.
It also said Alberta should ask residents whether the government should work with other provinces to initiate “piecemeal” changes to the Canadian Constitution that would give provinces greater control over their affairs.
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The government said it won’t adopt any recommendations until the United Conservative Party caucus reviews them. Ms. Smith has said that the issues will be brought to voters in 2026, although the government is not required to enforce the results.
The panel, which was formed last summer and chaired by Ms. Smith in her push for a new relationship with the federal government, had been gauging public support for several ideas in hours-long, provincewide town halls and surveys.
Ms. Smith held 10 in-person town halls across the province over the summer and early fall. The events packed community halls and convention centres in mid-size and major cities alike.
The Premier formed the panel during a period of tense relations with Ottawa.
When she first floated the idea of these provincial gatherings early this year, she outlined nine federal energy and environmental laws that she believed were stifling investment in Alberta’s abundant natural-resource sector and threatened a national-unity crisis if they were not addressed by new Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Most of those laws were shelved in the energy deal reached with Mr. Carney in late November, which Ms. Smith hailed as a new beginning with Ottawa.
But the Friday report outlined several ways in which Alberta should try to wrest greater control from the federal government.
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The recommendation of a referendum on an Alberta Pension Plan was tabled with a caveat that a provincial vote shouldn’t happen until residents are presented with a proposal outlining benefits, management structure, contribution rates and an implementation plan.
“Looking at the evidence, the panel believes moving to an [Alberta Pension Plan] is a legitimate option for Albertans to consider,” the report said, adding that there are “many misconceptions on this topic” and legitimate concerns about how a provincial pension plan would be managed.
Two years ago, Ms. Smith struck a panel to consult Albertans on this very issue, which initially suggested that the province would be entitled to more than half the assets of the Canada Pension Plan – a number Canada’s Chief Actuary and University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe separately contested. (Dr. Tombe sat on the Alberta Next Panel.)
The province eventually dropped the issue, citing low public support.
While the provincial report cited “professional polling” that found a majority of Albertans support an Alberta Pension Plan, it is unclear who conducted the polling or if there was a margin of error in the results.
The report also recommended introducing a provincial certificate of immigration, while also reviewing the social services that certain migrants would be eligible to receive.
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The government has suggested that Alberta could pull social-services funding for certain migrants in order to control the number of newcomers moving to the province.
“The Constitution is clear that provinces have a strong role in immigration,” the authors wrote. “Recent federal policy has not respected this, and the government should consider its best options and put that to Albertans in a referendum.”
The panel also suggested several issues that should be explored, but didn’t push for referendums. In addition, it recommended a cost-benefit analysis to look at Alberta collecting personal income taxes, as well as looking at creating a provincial police force to replace the RCMP.
Groups in Alberta are also trying to bring questions to a referendum, including an organization that wishes to ask Albertans whether the province should separate from Canada.
In a statement, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Ms. Smith did not run on the proposals in the report and called on her to hold an election.
“They are costly, destabilizing proposals that risk Alberta’s economic prosperity, undermine investor confidence, and put public services at risk,” Mr. Nenshi wrote.