More than 90 top business leaders and chief executive officers, representing some of Canada’s largest companies, are putting their names behind a campaign to increase Canadian pension plan investments in domestic businesses, an initiative that has drawn strong opposition from some of the country’s largest pension fund managers.
The executives supporting the campaign – who come from industries that include auto parts, oil and gas, airlines, telecommunications, banking and grocery retail – made their case in an open letter sent Wednesday to federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and her provincial counterparts. The letter urges the politicians to “amend the rules governing pension funds to encourage them to invest in Canada.”
Pension funds invest trillions of dollars on behalf of retirees. They hold roughly a third of the country’s institutional capital, putting them on par with Canada’s banks. But they invest only 4…
