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The Pension War Room

6 Jul, 10 tweets, 6 min read

The Pension War Room™️has another communique from Kaycee Madu! Threat level mauve! He says a bunch of things that are wrong. Like..."As Trustee, ATRF will also continue to set the investment policy for the plan."
#AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Kaycee should engage his critical thinking skills and ask himself: "what are the other legal obligations of a pension trustee?" Oh, like hiring and firing investment managers? A job the UCP has taken and given to their friends at AIMCO. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

@Alberta_Finance

Apparently they can't ever be fired, regardless of performance. If Travis and @Alberta_Finance were even remotely doing their jobs I would not be in charge of performance management for AIMCO. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Kaycee said a bunch of other (mostly wrong) stuff about the pre-1992 liability. He acts like the GOA is doing teachers a favor with this, but does not mention that the GOA DID NOT MAKE PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS FROM 1957-1992. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

These were contributions the GOA was legally obligated to make. This led to the unfunded liability and the end of the pre-1992 plan.

Kaycee does not realize this, but this is exactly why any plan member must fight unilateral government decisions. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Travis does not realize this either. This is not going away ever. The plan has a fiduciary trustee. Travis appoints half the members of that Board (including a consort of W Brett) and makes 49% of the contributions. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

@MarkDWiseman

Still waiting for @MarkDWiseman to fill us in on how this arrangement is even remotely similar to the much vaunted Canadian pension model. Can I get a GOA directive for $200 Alex? #AbLeg

@ChristinaNDP

On another note, I had a great chat this morning with @ChristinaNDP. I let her know how disappointed I was that the AIMCO Board removed last year's poor investment performance from the bonus calculation. The low return was pulled out and a "floor" value was inserted... #AbLeg

This resulted in far higher LTIP bonuses than would otherwise be paid.

I also expressed concern that Kevin was being paid out roughly $1.3 million in unvested bonuses; causing me to reassess the legal meaning of "unvested". #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Kevin maintains he quit. Which, in my opinion, makes these payments more like hush money.

That, and Travis certainly is NOT taking questions on any of this. He should read the Auditor General's report from when Horner went wilding on pensions. #AbLeg

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More from @yomeeks

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

5 Jul

The Pension™️ War Room brings you the AIMCO pay package edition! There are some really juicy interpretations of facts in the compensation disclosure.
I will point them out, you can let me know if they are on the mark. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

It starts on page 72 of the Annual Report with Kroner (the chair of the HR Committee) pointing out that: "...with compensation down by more than 10% relative to 2019."

This might give you false hope that execs paid a real price for the VOLTS shenanigans.#AbLeg #handsoffmypension

At least that is what Kroner wants you to think. Probably not true. The fact comp is down by 10% probably has more to do with positions that were left vacant for the part of the year. (The SVP who was fired over VOLTS has not been replaced yet, for ex.) #AbLeg

Read 7 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

5 Jul

@sophiaharrisCBC

Just a great (and timely) article from @sophiaharrisCBC. I am in this boat as well. Had a flight, @WestJet canceled, offered me a replacement flight on a day when I had to work. Refused to refund me, gave me an expiring coupon instead.
cbc.ca/news/business/…

@sophiaharrisCBC

Glad to see these people in the article got their money back. Maybe @sophiaharrisCBC can do a follow up with the thousands of other customers.

It shouldn't be up to her. The @CTA_gc should be all over this.

@Westjet

Keeping people's money for a @Westjet canceled flight violates the tariff (read:contract) as well as the Air Passenger Protection Regulations.

When you buy an airline ticket you are entering into a contract. Written by and heavily in favor of the airline.

Read 11 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

3 Jul

This is your daily pension announcement: the mailbag edition! So I will pull another question out of the pension-question bag and answer it as best I can.... #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

This week's question is..."Greg, if you had one nice thing to say about AIMCO, what would it be?"

I can say several nice, positive, affirming things about AIMCO. The one that jumps to mind is that they went to great lengths to care for their employees during the pandemic. #AbLeg

AIMCO transitioned to being nearly all working from home. They had an array of supports available to workers and certainly took great interest in everyone's physical and mental health through this period. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Read 5 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

3 Jul

The Pension War Room™️rests for no one! Just so you know, when I was the Board Chair of ATRF I had a role in hiring and negotiating the contract of the CEO. So I do have some background to Kevin's compensation.

I would have expected the Auditor General to make it more transparent. Many unknowns. But here is what we do know....
1. Kevin, as AB highest paid public employee, was paid $2.7 million for his work last year.
2. That was only $100,000 less than the year before.
#AbLeg

3. The biggest single component of his pay is the long-term incentive plan (LTIP) which is (for Kevin) based solely on 4-year total fund return.

EXCEPT IT DIDN'T INCLUDE THE FUND RETURN FROM LAST YEAR. YOU KNOW, THE REALLY SHITTY YEAR. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Read 8 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

2 Jul

The Pension War Room™️is in a rage, so we will keep the hits coming!! The LAPP annual report is out, get your copy below. Being jointly sponsored the LAPP Board should be able to choose an investment manager. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension
lapp.ca/page/whats-new…

What did LAPP members get for the $281 million paid to AIMCO last year? 5.2% investment return with a benchmark of 9.5% for a net🥁🥁value add of -4.3%. You would have been better off if you had indexed the lot and had AIMCO employees stay home. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

BTW, AIMCO returned 1.64% for PSPP. They have not released the value lost yet, it will likely be more than LAPP.

Back to LAPP: 5-year return=7.0% (bench 7.5%) for a value add of -0.5%.

10-year return=8.3% (bench 8.3%) for a value add of 0%. Not good.
#AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Read 10 tweets

The Pension War Room

@yomeeks

1 Jul

It might be on the eve of a national holiday, but it is here, AIMCO's Annual Report. The Pension war Room will spend the next several days sussing out the naughty bits. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension
aimco.ca

ATRF 10-year return 9.2% against a benchmark of 8.5% for a value add of 0.7%, for comparisons sake.
AIMCO 10-year return 7.7%, against a benchmark of "we are not telling you". That is some real cajones there.
#AbLeg #handsoffmypension

AIMCO 1-year return 2.5% against a benchmark OF 8.0% FOR A VALUE ADD OF -5.5%. That is the whopper.
In fact, they have only hit their target return 2 of the last 5 years. #AbLeg #handsoffmypension

Read 11 tweets

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