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For context, the net contribution over the same 10-year period by Ontario, which has a much larger population and workforce than Alberta, was $7.4 billion, slightly more than one-quarter of Albertans’ contribution.

To illustrate the importance of Albertans’ disproportionate contributions to the CPP, it’s helpful to imagine what would happen if the province withdrew from the program and administered its own parallel provincial plan (as Quebec decided originally in the mid-1960s).

Using the standard methodology employed by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, which regulates and monitors the CPP’s finances, a recent analysis found that the basic CPP rate (9.9 per cent) would have to increase to 10.6 per cent if Alberta withdrew, resulting in up to $367 in additional contributions (in the form of payroll taxes) for workers outside of Alberta. Meanwhile, Albertans would pay just 5.85 per cent for a CPP-like program for the province.

This is not meant to promote Alberta’s withdrawal — though a re-evaluation of the expanded CPP that began in 2019 is well-warranted — but rather to clearly illustrate the disproportionate contributions of Albertans to national programs.

There will always be regional strains within federalist countries such as Canada. However, the status quo is increasingly unacceptable to Albertans, and the rest of Canada, including Ottawa and other key provinces, would be well-advised to understand the real and significant contributions Albertans make to national programs when denying them accommodation.

Jason Clemens, Joel Emes and Niels Veldhuis are economists at the Fraser Institute and authors of Alberta’s Disproportionate Contributions to National Programs: The Canada Pension Plan as a Case Study.