Dr. Sherman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2008 the cowboys on Wall Street crashed the economy, causing the unfunded liability of public-sector pensions to spike to $7.5 billion. Employees stepped up in Alberta by increasing their contributions and forgoing wage increases in favour of matching government contributions. As a result, the liability is down to $6.4 billion, and the Minister of IIR says that pensions are healthy and will be fully funded in 12 years, at which time contributions will drop. Premier, the crisis has passed, so why are you launching a Republican-style attack on the pensions of public-sector workers?
Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, I would hardly classify this as a Republican-style attack. We are not changing the pension promise. In fact, what we are doing is defending the pension promise. The age of retirement before the changes we introduced in the Legislature was 65. The age of retirement after the legislation, hopefully, is passed in this House will be 65. We are making changes to two things. The early retirement subsidy: we're not getting rid of it; we're actually keeping it and making it sustainable. The second thing we're doing is that we're ensuring that there are funds available to pay cost-of-living adjustments into the future. Hardly radical.
Dr. Sherman: Defending pensions by cutting them: please, we don't want your defence, thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, too many seniors in Alberta already struggle to survive on insufficient pensions, and the PC plan to reduce cost of living adjustments will only worsen the problem by depriving future retirees of enough money to pay their bills, thus retiring them into poverty. The Premier used to be Health minister. He knows how expensive poverty is, and he knows how much it will cost in terms of extra health care and subsidized housing. Premier, why are you bringing in a cold-hearted policy which is so obviously penny-wise and pound-foolish?
Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member really, clearly does not understand what is happening and ought to go back and review the material again. The major change with respect to cost of living is going from a defined cost-of-living adjustment process to a targeted one, and that's based on return on investment. That's prudent, so we can keep the pension promise to Alberta's public service workers, because if you do not sustain the viability of the program, then it won't be there for anyone. As you have fewer people paying and more people drawing, it's more and more difficult to sustain that promise unless you assure sustainability. That's what this government is doing.
Dr. Sherman: Mr. Speaker, targeted is right. They have targeted front-line workers with Bill 45, Bill 46, and these pension reforms. This PC government's right-wing, anti-worker ideology blinds it to certain basic facts. We've already covered a couple, and here's one more. Gutting public-sector pensions will make it more difficult to attract and retain workers, which means the government will be forced eventually to pay more in wages and salaries. Premier, precisely how much more will it cost to attract and retain public-sector workers who no longer find it appealing to work for your right-wing Conservative government? Have you done the math on this?
The Speaker: The hon. Premier.
Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the premise, again, is wrong, so there's no answer to his question because you can't answer a hypothetical that's based on a wrong assumption. But this is the reality, that it's always been there for public-sector workers to be paid fairly, to get good benefits, and to have a pension. The benefits and the pension are not there for all the people in the private sector, but it is there for all the people in the public sector, and that's why many people who have a passion for public service also want to join the public service, because there is security, there are pensions, and there are good benefits
