Given its role in managing the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, as well as the pensions of hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, it was alarming to hear that the Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) is in need of a “major reset.”

It was most unnerving, then, to see the rather blunt news release from the Alberta government late last week announcing that AIMCo’s CEO and the entire board were being sacked, and that the finance minister would step in as the corporation’s sole director and chair. Why did this all have to come to such a sudden and dramatic head now, especially when there have been ongoing concerns over AIMCo’s track record for some time?

The government claims this is about “restoring confidence in AIMCo,” but Albertans could be forgiven for being a little short on confidence. The same government that appointed the CEO and much of the board (including board members appointed by this premier) will now be in charge of finding a new and presumably better CEO and board.

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