HSAA supports public pensions

It doesn’t take much to read between the lines and see what the Fraser Institute really wants in its call for changes to public-sector pensions. It wants all workers, the 99 per cent, to have less when they retire.

That is hardly surprising for a right-wing think tank funded by the one per cent.

It is, however, not in the best interest of working and retired Albertans – or the businesses and industries that rely on their spending power. Deprive future generations of retirement security and see how many businesses will starve as families stop eating out, buying clothes, upgrading their homes or purchasing services.

The Fraser Institute and the Alberta government have chosen to ignore vital information:

1)    There is no crisis in public-sector pensions in Alberta. Pension experts who have examined the temporary shortfall in the Local Authorities Pension Plan (caused by the market collapse of 2008) say it will be fully funded again thanks to measures already in place within a few years.

2)    The pensions paid by these funds are modest. The average LAPP pension is just under $14,958 per year – hardly a king’s ransom.

3)    The real crisis in Canada is that fewer workers, especially in the private sector, have access to any pensions. Punishing the few who have managed to hang on to the dream of avoiding poverty in retirement will only make matters worse.

Elisabeth Ballermann, President, Health Sciences Association of Alberta