Thread by @yomeeks

This is your daily pension announcement: Licia Corbella Part Two. Loyal tweeps, if you recall a couple of days ago I fact checked Licia and the Fraser Institute report she relied upon for this column. #ABLeg ⬇️

calgaryherald.com/opinion/column…

As long as it was, my thread didn't deal with all of the trash. So again I will dive into the cesspool for your education and enjoyment.

Licia's only real error is accepting Fraser Institute and CFIB reports at face value. She should use her critical thinking skills. #ABLeg

To quote the article:
"....while most private-sector employees (77.5 per cent), don’t have a workplace pension."

Well that's bullshit. 100% of private sector employees have a workplace pension: it is called the Canada Pension Plan. #ABLeg

In Fraser speak the CPP is not a pension but rather an unfair-to-rich-people tax grab. C'mon guys it even has pension in the title and it pays out monthly.

Remember from my last thread: the private sector has a different occupational profile than the public sector. #ABLeg

The private sector has two vast (and low paying) occupations: food service and retail sales unique to it.

The public sector is tilted more heavily to professionals. #ABLeg

As the UCP's Rudy Giuliani cosplayer Jack Mintz would know, CPP provides an excellent retirement pension for low income Canadians. Jack knows this because he coauthored an (academically sound) paper that came to that conclusion. #ABLeg #cosplayer

The CPP is conditional on working. So it is fundamentally illogical not to include it when talking about workplace pensions. Especially when it provides for most of the retirement needs of low paid workers. #ABLeg

Licia also spews:
"On top of that, “most government employees receive the most expensive type of pension (79.6 per cent receive a defined benefit pension)”"

Which employees (generally) pay half of. #ABLeg

@jkenney and Travis were shocked to find out that the GOA only makes 49% of the contributions to the Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund.

And, that they grossly overreached by dictating that the fund use AIMCO as the investment manager for life. #ABLeg

In fact the only pension @jkenney is familiar with is the one he earned federally as an MP.

HE NEVER MADE A SINGLE CONTRIBUTION TO IT!

That plan is a resounding ripoff for Canadian taxpayers and needed to be fixed 20 years ago. @jkenney never raised a finger to fix it. #ABLeg

Though Licia calls the pension plans the most expensive in a pejorative fashion, she might be unaware that the Fraser Institute never discloses that employees pay 50%. (They assume all plans are like the MP plan.)

50% of an expensive plan=reasonably priced plan

#ABLeg

Even if the GOA switched to a comparable DC plan its pension costs would roughly be the same. #ABLeg

Next, Licia makes another material omission:

"The Canadian Federation of Independent Business found government employees “enjoyed total compensation that was 18 to 37 per cent more than private-sector employees, who do similar work.”

Now if you are writing an opinion about why GOA public servants should take a pay cut, shouldn't you quote the AB number? It is in the same paper just a bit further down.
#ABLeg

The CFIB (in the same paper) reports that AB public sector workers are paid 1.6% more than their private sector counterparts.

I think that this number is germane to this discussion.

The SAME CFIB PAPER CALCULATES THE WAGE PREMIUM for Alberta education workers (not including teachers) at -0.8%. That's right negative. Education sector workers in AB are paid less than comparable private sector occupations. #ABLeg #telltravis

The CFIB then tries to calculate the cost of benefits but their methodology falls down because of too many estimates. They don't deal with the fact that large swaths of the private sector don't get sick leave.

COVID has shown us what a serious flaw that is. #ABLeg #flaws

In fact, health care workers in AB have one of the lowest wage premiums in all of the prov @ 1.1%. Suck on that, Shandy.

I also technically disagree with the study's use of median instead of mean as an statistical averaging technique given the size of the data sets. #ABLeg

Licia was misrepresenting by omission. She omitted CPP from a discussion of workplace pensions and then omitted the fact that AB public service have low or nonexistent wage premiums even in a flawed study. Remember her argument is that the AB public sector should take 5% cut.