Possible dialog at a meeting of senior members of banks, life insurance firms and actuaries, at C.D. Howe Institute. The Institute provides an environment where no written words or recordings are allowed. The Institute will not reveal who funds them.
Based on substantial evidence, here is what an estimate of what was stated. The Chair of the meeting speaks.
Almost all the disturbing claims below can be verified at www.fixthecpp.ca. It contains links, quotes, tables, graphs and more.
Dear fellow executives and actuaries,
We can speak freely. Nothing is recorded and all phones have been left outside this room.
Today, our world is great. For example, we were able to pay 15,000 banking executives December an average of $1.8 million each in bonuses. And even with that expense, the financial industry still corners 47% of all corporate profit in Canada, while only contributing roughly 7.5% to our GDP. Our profit share is higher than any other OECD country. And you actuaries, with your alleged mathematical skill, are earning grotesque incomes.
However, those damn guys at CPP Investments have so many investment advantages over what we can give Canadian investors. Since 2010, when our CPP fund was in perfect balance, they have averaged a 10% return when only a 6% return is needed to fund all pensions. They are documented as the best pension fund investor in the world, out of 300 pension fund investors. This has resulted in a $500 billion CPP surplus when actuaries forecast using a 10% return, which pension experts recommend.
High returns will likely ongoing. CPP Investments has advertised in the Globe and Mail several times that the $781 billion fund will be worth $1 trillion by 2028. That means they anticipate averaging a 13% return for the next two years.
The damn surplus is 200% over target. When a pension fund has a mere 25% surplus, it should be distributed or generational equity, the goal of all pension fund managers, is denied. Since 2016, probably thousands or hundreds of thousands of Canadians have died earlier than they should because the CPP has refused to follow standard pension practice. Numerous studies show increased income leads to increased longevity.
Here is the problem. If CPP Investments continues with a 10% return, which is likely, a 25-year-old will have $100,000 CPP pension in today's dollars. Moreover, there could be a stampede to allow voluntary contributions to CPP Investments, as Finance Minister Flaherty investigated in 2011. And that was when CPP Investments had averaged roughly a 6% return. We managed to quickly quash Flaherty’s suggestion.
If Canadians discover the news of the CPP's surplus and potential, our businesses will be fu**ed. Young Canadians will say:
Why invest for retirement when a $100,000 CPP pension in today's dollars waits from me at age 65? I need extra cash today.
Why contribute to any other pension funds?
Why can't we have voluntary contributions to CPP Investments, likely eventually giving me three times the investment profits compared to the financial industry?
Why buy life insurance when the CPP gives my spouse a 60%, $60,000, CPP pension, if I die?
With 43% of Canadians within $200 of insolvency, why is the CPP not distributing a deserved $10,000 to millions of struggling Canadians?
Today, young Canadians are struggling. Canadians under-25 rank 71st on The World Happiness Index. Can you name 70 OECD countries? Our young must rank their happiness below young citizens of many dictatorships. And our birth rate is now 1.2 children per female when it once was the replacement rate, 2.1. That is because many of our young are saying, “My quality of life is now a 5 out of 10. If I had to pay for a family, it would likely plummet to a 2 out of 10.”
But why should we care. Our millions of dollars we are unethically extracting out of our industry will keep our grandchildren happy. Who gives a f*** about the others?
We must only consider our shareholders, our employees and ourselves. Unfortunately, that will fu** over about 90% of Canadians, but we can accomplish this doing nothing illegal.
Here is how:
Because our collective profit in a year is $160 billion, let's take 1%, $1.6 billion and use it to suppress the CPP surplus news. That's 160 convincing packets of $10 million each. We now use very slick, expensive lobbyists and think tank people who do very well.
With politicians, we have several tools. We will use an argument like “Revealing the surplus will result in economic Armageddon for Canada.” And they all drank the Kool-Aid, probably because their party leader said, “Get on board or you are out of the party.”. And if any party reveals the surplus, there will be no more under-the-radar annual donations from us in the tens of millions of dollars. We may even consider (or have made) a payment to each MP to remain mute.
It has not been easy. The upstart NDP party threatened to reveal the surplus, but we got them, with the Liberal-NDP coalition, credit for Pharmacare and dental care. The NDA they signed will be in force for years.
However, that damn premier of Alberta will have no part of this cover-up. And she has notified her citizen's that, if she receives Alberta’s fair share of the CPP fund, she will use Alberta’s $60 billion surplus share to give as much as $10,000 to every citizen. With 43% of Canadians within $200 of insolvency, the denial of a deserved $10,000 payment is making many Albertans eager for separation. They are understandably unwilling to let us guys on Bay Street continue to earn millions at their expense.
Why are actuaries complicit? If the news of the CPP’s surplus and potential becomes known, actuarial employment could halve or worse. That is because the news could eventually result in no more pension funds other than the CPP and fewer life insurance funds. They provide the lion’s share of actuarial employment. Thankfully, our entire actuarial profession is now complicit.
Premier Smith hired Lifeworks, Canada’s largest actuarial firm, to calculate Alberta’s fair share. Sensing the cover-up was unraveling, they found some obscure clause that argues Alberta deserves a ridiculous 53% of the fund. And then our controlled media attributed the claim to Premier Smith, not Lifeworks, portraying her as greedy, un-Canadian and unhinged.
Actuaries are allegedly the best mathematicians in the world. Even a grade three student knows that, when you divide a pie, the shares must add to 100%.
We love our media, which we control. To establish their credibility, we let them argue the pros and cons of all issues except the CPP’s surplus. When we asked them, they made Canadians think that Premier Smith, Canada’s most honest politician is a disgrace, eager to selfishly sever Canada. And, thanks to Carney, even the CBC is on board, willing to veto arguably the most newsworthy story in Canada in years.
Meanwhile, if you listen to Town Hall Meetings in Alberta, thousands of Albertans are aware of the potential of the CPP to help their province and their people. That is driving many towards separation. Even though leaving would mean the Alberta Pension Plan investment returns would be closer to 6% than 10%, one third of Albertans still want to separate.
Canada’s most respected economist is Professor Trevor Tombe. We paid him to write an article in the Globe and Mail that said, “The idea of an Alberta Pension Plan is stupid.” Then Macnaughton emailed him, telling him and 100 of his fellow professors that he was depriving his fellow Albertans of a deserved $10,000 each and his province of a deserved $120 billion, $60 billion being surplus. Then he left us and sat beside Premier Smith in Town Hall Meetings, explaining the pros and cons of an Alberta Pension Plan.
We are so lucky that our CPP fund is 100% governed by our Chief Actuary. Even though all pension funds should have a Board of Governors primarily composed of contributors and pensioners, the CPP, which holds 10% of the lifetime earnings of most Canadians, has no such Board. And the CRA and Auditor General cannot oversee the fund. Canadians’ safeguard? – A pathetic, rubber-stamp peer review. A fox is guarding the henhouse that holds trillions of dollars contributed by millions of struggling Canadians.
Even though standard pension practice says, “Distribute the surplus when it is 25% above target”, our Chief Actuary has used deception to bury the surplus and all actuaries are complying, as demanded by their association.
The pressure on Carney is growing rapidly. While he has so far been on board with this cover-up, he may go down in history as the Prime Minister who decided to protect the 1% of Canadians in our industry, ignore the other 99%, and let our great country separate. Maybe, before Alberta’s referendum, he will abandon his agreement with us to ignore the CPP’s surplus, thereby keeping Canada together.
If he declared a no-risk $200 billion CPP surplus Canada-wide, Alberta's appetite for separation would probably vanish. Our lobbyists and media are working hard to convince him such a move would be disastrous for Canadians and Canada, but he knows better. Time will tell.
What about those numerous organizations that have a benevolent mandate? For example, CARP knows that financial issues are top-of-mind for half of seniors. Yet, thanks to our generous, annual “donations” of $10 million and another $10 million under-the-radar to executives, they have adamantly denied the surplus, even though a $200 billion surplus distribution would give seniors $60 billion. On other pension issues, they have advocated loudly and politicians were forced to listen and pass legislation.
We have given similar ongoing “donations” to other organizations and they are all participating, even though they are defying their otherwise admirable mandate. We tell them to use the donation to meet their mandate in other ways but “Never mention the CPP’s surplus.” For $10 million per year, they all agree to this condition, especially because they are doing nothing illegal.
Don’t worry. We can’t go to jail. Recall the similar cover-up that the Charbonneau Commission uncovered. Hundreds of politicians, bureaucrats and business executives colluded for years to inflate Quebec infrastructure costs by 25%. Some went to jail. With this CPP cover-up. there is nothing illegal in pressing Delete when an email from a guy like Macnaughton arrives saying, “Please advocate for CPP justice.”
However, that pesky Macnaughton is causing problems. He emailed all premiers four years ago about the huge surplus. Premier Smith investigated and acted. He has sent hundreds of emails to Alberta MPs, MPPs, Mayors, Chambers of Commerce, seniors’ groups and more.
He developed The Reverse Order of Canada List, a list of all those who have ignored their benevolent mandate and helped deprive millions of struggling Canadians of hundreds of hundreds of billions of deserved dollars. He will put the list in his upcoming book. It could be a bestseller because it will:
give overwhelming evidence of the biggest cover-up in Canadian history,
help 99% of Canadians finally receive huge benefits
include The List.
Since 2016, one million low-income seniors have died earlier than they should, with a lower quality of life, because they never received their deserved $10,000 each. Genocide is defined as intentionally shortening the lives of many people. No Canadian wants to be even slightly associated with the word “genocide.” Being on The List could lead to a legacy of disgrace for our complicit allies. Macnaughton has even threatened to call The List , Canada’s version of the Epstein list.
CARP and CBC executives are weakening because of The List. For years, they ignored Macnaughton, but recently they responded, defending their inaction to meet their mandate, albeit with a pathetic defence.
And Finance Minister Freeland also responded with a pathetic defence. Then she retired from politics, possibly unable to stomach the injustice and hypocrisy.
And we can’t sue Macnaughton. He will simply document the overwhelming evidence and then say, “What do you think, reader. Should, for example, CARP executives be on The List?”
We also face the danger of a class action lawsuit. Or a social media campaign taht could “go viral.” Is it time to exercise damage control? Alberta’s financial executives are already saying, “Because Premier Smith will reduce your Alberta Pension Plan contributions, be sure to invest your resultant savings with us.”