Here is what I received this morning about pensions. Have a read. I couldn’t agree more. It’s time to bring our pension and its control home.

When Alberta first proposed the idea of an Alberta Pension Plan, opponents on the left immediately claimed it was a scheme for politicians to seize control of Albertans’ retirement savings.

They warned that the government would use pension money to fund pet projects or make political investments.

That was always absurd.

The idea behind an Alberta Pension Plan was never about political control - it was about independence, fairness, and ensuring that Albertans receive full value for the billions they contribute every year to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

We’ve been clear from the start that we would only support an Alberta Pension Plan if it were managed by an independent, non-political board based in Alberta - not by bureaucrats or politicians, and certainly not as a tool for anyone’s agenda.

But ironically, since Alberta began seriously discussing its own plan, Ottawa has been doing exactly what critics accused Alberta of wanting to do.

In a recent Financial Times interview, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly called on Canada’s $3 trillion pension system to shift more investment into domestic projects - not because it’s what pensioners asked for, but because it fits Ottawa’s new wave of “economic nationalism.”

She said Canada’s financial institutions must “think about Canada first” and direct capital into homegrown industries and government-backed infrastructure projects.

In other words, Ottawa is now openly asking pension funds to act as instruments of federal policy rather than focusing solely on the financial interests of contributors and retirees.

It’s not just talk.

The federal government has already lifted the long-standing 30% cap on domestic investments by pension funds, and it’s setting up a “Major Projects Office” to steer money into large-scale infrastructure schemes - all while pushing “Buy Canada” campaigns and discouraging investment in sectors like oil and gas that don’t align with its political priorities.

Even former Bank of Canada deputy governor Paul Beaudry has warned that forcing pension funds to invest locally could be “very dangerous,” creating a kind of crony capitalism where government favouritism replaces sound financial judgment.

So let’s be clear: if anyone is politicizing pensions, it isn’t Alberta - it’s Ottawa.

An Alberta Pension Plan, managed by an independent board right here at home, would actually reduce political interference.

It would protect Albertans’ savings from being diverted into ideological projects and keep control where it belongs - with the people who earned that money in the first place.

It would mean that decisions about where to invest are based on financial merit, not political convenience.

Ottawa wants to use Albertans’ savings to advance its political goals - from funding green energy schemes to propping up industries in Central Canada.

But, an Alberta Pension Plan would keep those dollars invested in whatever makes the most economic sense, rather than what makes the most political sense.

That’s the Alberta way - practical, fair, and free from interference.

So the next time critics claim that an Alberta Pension Plan would make pensions “more political,” remember who’s actually turning pensions into tools of government policy.

The truth is simple: an Alberta-run plan would depoliticize pensions and protect Albertans from the very overreach Ottawa is now guilty of.