A new report that asserts Albertans are entitled to a whopping 53 per cent of the base assets of the Canada Pension Plan — if the province creates its own program — is drawing plenty of flack, but Premier Danielle Smith isn’t backing down from its findings.

In an interview Friday, Smith stood behind the contentious report that says the province could withdraw from the national program and create an Alberta Pension Plan — taking with it $334 billion, or more than half of the total base CPP assets forecast for 2027.

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“We used the formula that’s in law . . . Albertans continue to overpay in premiums,” Smith said after speaking to the Global Business Forum in Banff.

“When that overpayment of premiums gets invested and compounded, it has resulted in the lion’s share of the pension fund being attributable to Alberta ratepayers.

“I think the rest of the country needs to understand that we are a small province, four and a half million people, that punches well above our weight and Albertans are getting really sick and tired of having the lack of appreciation for just how much we contribute to Confederation.”

Commissioned by the UCP government, the report was prepared by consultancy Lifeworks. It adds more fuel to the debate on whether Alberta should be the first province to exit the Canada Pension Plan. (Quebec has its own plan and didn’t join CPP.)

Alberta has a younger population than the rest of the country and higher pensionable earnings to support benefits, which means contributions from provincial residents have historically exceeded the benefits paid out.

The report says the $334 billion is based on its “reasonable interpretation of the CPP Act” and reflects the amount Albertans have contributed to the program, minus benefits paid out since the program began 56 years ago, along with the investment earnings.

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Assuming Alberta managed to receive such a large amount — and that is a massive IF — the report says it could lead to an estimated $5 billion in collective savings for a provincewide pension plan in its first year.

The gap between the rate paid in CPP premiums and a provincial program would save workers and businesses in the province up to $1,425 a year each, it maintains.

But Michel Leduc of CPP Investments, the federal Crown corporation that manages the fund, said Thursday the amount “does not add up.”

Asked about how other provinces would view the claim that Alberta is owed more than half of the CPP assets, Smith was blunt.

“I don’t know why other provinces think that we’re being unreasonable to want to keep dollars here, but they’re not being unreasonable asking a province of 4.5 million to keep on subsidizing the rest of the country,” she said.

“Confederation has to work for everybody and these programs have to work for everybody. And this one is one in which there’s so much unfairness that, over time, it’s now resulted in us being entitled to 53 per cent of the premiums paid and the assets in the fund.”

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A panel led by former provincial finance minister Jim Dinning will gather public feedback in the coming months on the report and is expected to report back to the government in May.

The debate around the idea of Alberta leaving CPP is a polarizing one, with a poll conducted by Leger in May finding only one in five Albertans favoured replacing CPP with an Alberta retirement plan.

A survey last November of business operators, conducted by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce, found a majority believe withdrawing from the CPP and establishing a provincial program would disadvantage their companies over the next three to five years.

From a national perspective, the CEO of the Business Council of Canada said the possible departure of Alberta from the national plan could have unintended consequences, such as affecting the interprovincial mobility of workers.

“You have to be careful what you wish for. It could unravel the whole thing and a lot of Canadians could be exposed quite dramatically in their pensions,” Goldy Hyder said Friday in Banff at the forum.

“At the end of the day, pensions are very emotional issues.”

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Calgary Chamber of Commerce president Deborah Yedlin said a survey earlier in the year asked its members about their top concerns, and an Alberta pension plan wasn’t at the top of the list.

“We want to make sure the government considers things like ensuring stability, that it doesn’t compromise labour mobility, because we are trying to get people into Alberta,” she said.

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan called the $334-billion figure a fantasy number.

“With 13 per cent of the Canadian population, there’s no way we’re owed more than half of the CPP’s assets,” he said in a statement.

The idea of the province creating its own pension plan has been around for decades.

But the report’s interpretation of Alberta’s share of the CPP’s assets is “a fairly unreasonable interpretation” of the Canada Pension Plan Act, said University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe, who released a paper about the issue this week.

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He pegs the likely figure around $120 billion, or 20 per cent of CPP assets.

The language in the act governing the division of the plan’s assets can be interpreted in several ways, “and that’s why this is ultimately something that is going to be resolved in the courts,” Tombe said.

Asked if the province was prepared to negotiate using the $334 billion figure as a starting point, the premier said the issue could ultimately end up in the legal system.

“The courts will have to determine whether our interpretation of the act is reasonable,” Smith said.

“At the moment, we have to get a mandate from the people to pursue it . . . We will see whether or not they want to have a referendum.”

Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.

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