Thread by @SPhillipsAB

We are about to head in to the Heritage Fund meeting .
1. We got the Annual Report on Thursday. MLAs were given less than 24 hours to read it.
2. For the first time in 26 meetings, the CEO, CIO of AIMCO (or board chair) aren't showing up to the Committee. (thread) #ableg

Over the past calendar year AIMCo delivered returns of 2.5%, while the CPPIB delivered returns of 12.1%. If CPPIB had been managing Albertans’ pensions and Crown holdings (like the Heritage Fund), we would have been better off to the tune of $11.4 billion this year alone.

While AIMCo’s performance on a fiscal year basis relative to the CPPIB is slightly better, we still experienced relative losses of over $5 billion. Albertans rightly deserve to have AIMCo’s most senior officials appear and answer for the organization's poor performance.

Last year, the Minister of Finance defied a legal requirement and supplied the Annual Report 2 months late. Albertans were offered an apology. It is unacceptable that the government could not supply this year’s Annual Report in a timely fashion to the committee.

The financial statements were supplied to the Auditor General on June 8. There is no excuse for witholding the Heritage Fund Annual Report for weeks and then dropping it on us less than 24h before the meeting.

AIMCo has suffered serious reputational damage and poor returns over the past two years. Repeated attempts to downplay those results, and attempts to limit reporting and oversight by the Legislature and Albertans is making a bad situation worse.

Deliberately defying legislated timelines, withholding information until the last minute & playing silly games disrespects both the spirit & intent of Lougheed's vision for the Heritage Fund. 45 years ago, he put that Fund in the hands of Albertans, with #ableg oversight.

Since Aimco lost billions on a trading scheme that other public investment funds didn't get hoodwinked in to last year, we've seen the UCP limit Opposition questions, limit access to information, break the law last year, and excise numbers that made them look bad. #ableg

I've written to the AimCo board chair seeking remedy for these failures. There's the basic financial management problems, which persist at AimCo. But even worse, there seems to be zero understanding of the benefits of democratic oversight, or the statutory requirements for same.

TL;DR: That $18b in the Heritage Fund is the value of the hard work of Albertans who pulled oil and gas out of the ground in the 70s. It doesn't belong to UCP bureaucrats, or the govt of the day, or swishy traders who think they're better than the little guy. It belongs to us.

I sent a letter to the Board Chair of AIMCo to request accountability for the above shortcomings. #ableg

#ableg #AIMCoAccountability