It’s taken nearly two years for the province to release results from a survey that asked Albertans if they wanted an Alberta Pension Plan (APP).
The survey showed 63 per cent of respondents were opposed to an APP, while only 10 per cent were in support.
More recent polling from Leger in February found 55 per cent of Albertan’s opposed an Alberta Pension Plan. A May 2025 poll from Janet Brown found 55 per cent of Albertans were in support of the APP if there were more details.
In May, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said, “I am seeing the results you are, I am not seeing that there is an appetite to put it to the people at the moment.”
Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, says the Janet Brown poll, commissioned by the government of Alberta, has interesting results with the number of people waiting for more information.
He adds people wanted answers to questions. “Like, what is the amount that Alberta Pension Plan would start with? What would be the contribution rates? What would be the benefit rates? What would be the mobility between provinces? All of those sorts of questions haven’t been answered,” said Bratt.
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Bratt says the survey was not fair because it asked questions that assumed the respondent wanted an Alberta Pension Plan. “The question itself was, would you want to leave the CPP if you had the exact same program. In the absence of any details, how do you know that that’s the exact same program,” said Bratt.
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He adds the survey results are no longer accurate but the delay of the release of the results shows a lack of transparency from the provincial government.
“The bigger story is how and why the government of Alberta refused to hand over public survey data that they encouraged Albertans to fill out. They went to extreme measures to block it, because they realized it was going to embarrass them. They believed that this was a neutral process to just explore the idea of leaving the Canadian pension plan, but it wasn’t,” said Bratt.
The province says they will continue to talk with Albertans on this topic and says nothing will change unless Albertans approve a new pension plan in a referendum.
Bratt says by itself, majority of Albertans are against the province pulling out of CPP and creating the APP. He adds that he expects to see several referendum questions about Alberta’s independence. Those might include questions on the APP, an Alberta police force, and Alberta independence.
“I think what the government is hoping for is maybe people might not want to separate, but they still want to send a message to Ottawa,” said Bratt.
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