05/08/2026
Message from Pensioners: Don't Mess with the Canada Pension Plan
https://fb-news-sharer.pebmac.workers.dev/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-pension-funds-senate-finance-committee-chair/
CARP values the 'arms-length' relationship between government and the CPP investment board, and takes pride in our role in the establishment of CPP Investments in 1997, and the strict mandate of pursuing a maximum rate of return, without undue risk of loss, for pension holders.
Recent news about a federally sponsored Sovereign Wealth Fund and the accompanying discussion of directing CPP Investments as to where and how to invest pensioners' assets is alarming to CARP members.
Any proposal to direct CPP investments toward politically preferred domestic projects, sectors, or industries undermines that foundation. Once politicians begin deciding where pension dollars “should” go based on short-term political priorities, the door opens to exactly the kind of interference the CPP Investment Board was designed to prevent. Governments and Political agendas change, but the Pension obligations do not.
The mandate must remain clear and uncompromised: maximize returns for contributors and retirees while managing risk prudently. The CPP is not for nation-building or regional economic development. We can't let the politicians pick winners and losers with their insiders, friends and donors.
If governments want to subsidize industries, build infrastructure, or pursue economic development strategies, they have tools available through taxation, budgeting, and public spending.
AND, any such proposals should be part of their policy platform during election periods - so voters know and the idea can be debated and voted upon.
The money inside the CPP does not belong to politicians. It belongs to Canadian workers and retirees who paid into the system over decades expecting those funds to be protected from political meddling.
CPP contributors deserve confidence that their retirement security will not become subject to shifting political fashions or economic experiments.
Weakening the independence of the CPP Investment Board would be short-sighted, damaging to investor confidence, and a direct threat to one of Canada’s greatest public policy success stories.
CARP will strongly oppose any effort to compromise the arm’s-length independence and fiduciary mandate of the CPP Investment Board.
Anthony Quinn
President, CARP
Mark Carney
François-Philippe Champagne
Pierre Poilievre
Pat Kelly
Claude Carignan says Ottawa should force public-sector pensions to fund projects in this country instead of starting a sovereign wealth fund
