If hardworking Canadians wanted to gamble their earnings at the casino, I think they’d prefer to do that on their own terms. They certainly don’t need their savings taken by an AIMCo to do that for them.

Also, if the UCP don’t want Alberta to cover the losses and restore the retirement monies of Canadians, then what’s the point of AIMCo? I thought the whole idea of managed retirement funds was to INVEST money set aside for Canadian workers so they had some money to live on when they are old and retired. If the UCP feel that Alberta did nothing wrong to owe this lost retirement money that was gambled away, then lay criminal charges and lay claims against AIMCo’s Officers and Managers.

With my thoughts upfront, I want to make sure I understand this situation correctly, AIMCo got to play/manage with money earned by hardworking Canadians. They were able to take an investment strategy that bet on market stability - called VOLTS - which clearly did not manage risk appropriately for a fund handling retirement savings. When AIMCo finally finished gambling the money away, the house takes maybe $1.3 Bln, and AIMCo asks the Canadians saving for their retirement to HOLD THE BAG.

When Canadians say they want their money back, the UCP propose new legislation “to prevent public sector pensions from suing the Alberta Investment Management Corp., or AIMCo, for decisions made before November 2024.” So what is this exactly? The UCP want to shield Albertans? If we were to be protected, if our retirement monies were INVESTED, these gambling debts wouldn’t have been incurred at all. You’re protecting us after the fact from what exactly? Ourselves?

Maybe AIMCo? From “The blowback of AIMCo’s gamble with market volatility”, by Andrew Willis, other experts and observers of AIMCo believe that the fund persistently underperforms. Worse, at least in the view of one University of Alberta Economist’s review, the senior managers and CEOs of AIMCo have given themselves great pay bumps since 2008.

Performance is a continuing problem for AIMCo. The fund’s biggest customer is the $50-billion Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP), which covers health-care workers. LAPP recently said AIMCo failed to meet its performance benchmark for 46 consecutive quarters, or 11 years and six months. In 2016, the University of Alberta reviewed the decision to build one provincial fund manager. “The major beneficiaries of the transformation appear to be the senior managers and particularly the senior executives of AIMCo, whose pay has increased significantly [since 2008],” said study author Robert Ascah, an economics professor.

EDIT: Link

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-the-blowback-of-aimcos-gamble-with-market-volatility/

The UCP are covering up for an underperforming AIMCo, and there’s no reason for Canadians to settle for this level of underperformance. Worse, now that AIMCo was clearly seen as failing to manage risk (diplomacy speak for gambling), what’s the point of their existence?

Maybe my gambling reference is debatable. How about this? How many Canadians have to choose between medical bills, food, or housing in the future thanks to the chronic underperformance of AIMCo? If you’re going to prevent Canadians from laying claim against Alberta and AIMCo, then allow them the option of taking their money elsewhere at no loss or penalties