In March, almost 100 Canadian business executives — including representatives from the National Bank of Canada, Quebecor Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Communications Inc. and TMX Group Ltd. — signed an open letter asking federal and provincial finance ministers for support in attracting investments from the country’s largest public pension plans. According to the letter, Canadian institutional investors have reduced their holdings in publicly traded Canadian companies from 28 per cent of total assets at the end of 2000 to less than four per cent at the end of 2023.
Read: Removal of ‘30% rule’ could boost investment, reduce private equity fees for Canadian pension funds
Institutional investors were previously subjected to limitations on investments in foreign assets. After a couple of increases in the cap size throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s, the restriction was removed entirely in 2005. “Obviously the…


