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In an emailed statement, Dénes Németh, director of corporate communication at AIMCo, said it would not comment on the performance of specific active investment strategies.

On Wednesday, Alberta government officials defended AIMCo’s investment record and transparency, and noted that institutional investors around the world have been experiencing difficult losses due to the pandemic.

“Things are so topsy turvy from day to day … it’s not surprising we would see investment funds of all scales and all places incurring losses right now,” said Premier Jason Kenney at the province’s COVID-19 update.

Kenney also defended the possibility of pulling Albertan’s pensions out of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) — one recommendation the province’s Fair Deal Panel was mandated to report on.

“That is not about investment strategy, it is about demography,” he said, noting that Alberta has a young population and should be able to operate a public pension plan at lower premiums than the CPP.

Jerrica Goodwin, spokeswoman for Finance Minister Travis Toews, said in an emailed statement the “volatility-based investment program” behind AIMCo’s recent loss is not a new program and began well before the current UCP government took power.

The loss sparked concern from Alberta’s NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley, who said that if management decisions at AIMCo exacerbated risk, the situation deserves more scrutiny.

“This should be a clear message to Jason Kenney and Travis Toews to stop all talk of forcing Albertans to put their CPP into AIMCo, and stop all talks of forcing teachers to put their pension money into AIMCo,” said Notley.