Former PM Stephen Harper appointed to oversee Alberta’s $160B AIMCo fund manager

By Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press on November 20, 2024.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper delivers the keynote address at a conference, Wednesday, March 22, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

EDMONTON – Former prime minister Stephen Harper is the new chairman of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, which oversees more than $160 billion in funds, including pension funds and the Heritage Savings Trust Fund.

The move comes almost two weeks after the province’s finance minister fired the Crown agency’s entire board, along with a number of executives, citing ballooning costs and substandard returns.

Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday in a statement that the appointment of Harper and other board members is a step toward the long-term success of AIMCo.

“Our ambitious goal of building the Heritage Savings Trust Fund to more than $250 billion in the next 25 years requires strong governance oversight, which he will provide,” she said.

The province’s nest egg is currently valued at $23 billion.

Harper, the Conservative Party prime minister from 2006 to 2015, said in the statement he would do the work without being paid.

He’s taking on the role as an act of public service to his “adopted home province of the last 46 years,” Harper said.

“I also feel uniquely positioned to help the organization improve its governance.”

Finance Minister Nate Horner applauded Harper’s experience as a G7 leader and “a steward of tax dollars,” saying it makes him ideal for the role.

AIMCo, in its latest annual report, said it had $161 billion of assets under management as of the end of last year, with 600 employees spread across offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Luxembourg and London, U.K.

It handles about $118 billion in investments for public sector pension plans representing thousands of Albertans, including teachers, police officers and municipal workers.

The shakeup at AIMCo has sparked renewed concerns about the politicization of pension policy in Alberta, and comes after a public push by Smith’s United Conservative Party to pull the province out of the Canada Pension Plan.

The province says no decision has been made on leaving the CPP.

But AIMCo has been floated as a potential manager of whatever money the province might be able to negotiate in such an exit. A report commissioned by the provincial government estimated Alberta would be entitled to more than half of the CPP fund’s assets – or $334 billion.

AIMCo’s mandate says it’s meant to operate independently and at arm’s-length from the government, although there is co-operation and collaboration between the two.

In addition to Harper, the government said it’s putting the deputy finance minister on the board permanently, also without pay, in order to “to ensure more consistent communications between AIMCo and Alberta’s government.”

Katherine White is the current deputy minister but was not named in the announcement.

Three of the fired board members – Bob Dhillon, Jason Montemurro, and James Keohane – were also reappointed.