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The Alberta government is proposing new legislation to prevent public sector pensions from suing the Alberta Investment Management Corp., or AIMCo, for decisions made before November 2024.
Bill 12, the Financial Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), introduced in the Alberta legislature Tuesday, aims to solve a problem for the government that has existed since 2020 when AIMCo lost $2.1 billion in trading.
AIMCo manages pensions for Alberta public sector workers. The Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP), the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) and the Special Forces Pension Plan (SFPP) have been trying to recover about $1.3 billion in losses since then via arbitration.
A Court of King’s Bench ruling from 2023 found that AIMCo and the Alberta government would both be held liable for the losses if the pension plans were successful in their arbitration case.
On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nate Horner said the legislation is required to protect Alberta taxpayers.
“There’s no extra fund at AIMCo to cover something like this,” he said during a news conference at the Alberta legislature.
“It would fall on the backs of Alberta taxpayers, and we’re talking about $1.3 billion minimum. We’ve had lots of conversations about the borrowing the province is already undertaking, and it’s something we’re not willing to entertain.”
The 2020 losses were attributed to an investment strategy called a volatility trading strategy, or VOLTS.
Last year, Horner fired four AIMCo executives — including the CEO — and the entire board of directors, the second major management change in five years.
Horner appointed former Alberta deputy minister Ray Gilmour to be AIMCo’s interim chief executive officer. Former prime minister Stephen Harper was named chair of the board.
Bill 12 has provisions to prevent lawsuits against companies when they make “good-faith climate-related financial disclosures.”
The bill also aims to crack down on financial social media influencers who make false claims about investments that can impact their market performance.
Other items within the bill include enabling legislation for the new Alberta Disability Assistance Program, or ADAP, which aims to allow disabled Albertans to work while keeping some benefits, and a new levy on computer equipment used by artificial intelligence data centres.