OPINION | Kenney ignoring teachers’ pension fears after AIMCo’s $4-billion ‘blunder’

Premier Jason Kenney is fluent in both of Canada’s official languages. Yet he can’t seem to communicate with Alberta’s teachers.

That became evident this week when Kenney and the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) butted heads yet again over the government’s investment arm, the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, commonly known as AIMCo.

The government is forcing the teachers’ $18-billion pension fund, the aptly named Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF), to use AIMCo as its sole investment manager rather than invest with any manager it chooses. AIMCo manages $119 billion in assets, including the pension funds for 375,000 public sector workers, as well as the Alberta Heritage Savings Fund.