Alberta owed less money for possible CPP exit than estimated: chief actuary [Video]

Canada’s chief actuary believes Alberta would be entitled to less money from the Canada Pension Plan than was estimated in a report released by the province last year.

Assia Billig, the country’s chief actuary, was asked to provide her position on the CPP legislation after Alberta released an actuarial report prepared by LifeWorks on a potential exit from the federal plan and subsequent Alberta pension plan.

“In developing her position, the chief actuary primarily relied on a close reading of the (CPP) act,” the report states.

“The position therefore reflects the chief actuary’s opinion and best judgment of the meaning of the legislation’s wording and textual indications.”

The LifeWorks report calculated that Alberta would be entitled to $334 billion, or about 53 per cent, of the national pension plan’s pool.

The chief actuary also took into account a paper from Trevor Tombe, a University of Calgary economics professor, which argued that Alberta would actually be entitled to a smaller chunk, between 20 …