 |
||||
|
Tories mull pension 26 April 2004 BANFF -- There isn't a made-in-Alberta pension plan just yet. But Premier Ralph Klein -- at the annual Alberta PC convention this weekend -- confessed that two resolutions urging the government to start its own pension "add weight" to the argument. Klein told convention delegates at the wrap-up bear pit session yesterday the plan is already under active consideration by an MLA committee headed up by Ian McLelland. "The result (yesterday) will certainly add some weight to our consideration of the pension plan," the premier said. One resolution asked the government to consider the plan "as a means of developing Alberta's economy and broadening its capital markets." And it specifically compared it to the provincial pension fund currently operated by the Quebec government. A second resolution heavily supported by convention delegates backed the plan as a means to "keep Albertans' money in the province." Klein also noted a growing degree of unrest among PC party members and Albertans generally over the money -- an estimated $12 billion annually -- transferred out of the province to Ottawa. "Some Albertans feel frustrated because of the way they are treated," Klein told reporters. "They see the amount of money they pay to Ottawa and the little money that comes back." The premier also hinted another big BSE bailout could be coming from the province "very, very soon" if the U.S. border continues to remain closed to live cattle. He identified April 30 as the "trigger date" and added "it wouldn't surprise me if it involved money." Alberta taxpayers have paid $400 million to prop up the beef industry after an animal with mad cow disease was discovered in the province last May 20. "It makes me weep the amount of money we have already spent," Klein said. But the premier poured cold water on a resolution calling for a 60-cent-an-hour boost in Alberta minimum wage to $6.50 an hour by 2005 that was voted on by party delegates. |
|||
