Ottawa is appointing former Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz to lead a new federal working group that will look at ways to spur Canadian pension funds to invest more in the country, especially in areas such as digital infrastructure and airports.
Ms. Freeland and Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy have both signalled a desire to boost pension funds’ domestic investments, and the budget measures announced Tuesday echo previous pledges made in the federal government’s fall economic statement. In Mr. Poloz, the government has chosen a respected intermediary to lead the process. The economist and former central banker, who now works as a special advisor for law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, commands respect from a broad swath of Canada’s business leaders. After a career spent in Ottawa’s senior ranks, he has a deep understanding of the broad forces that shape the country’s economic performance.
“A key measure of success will be: Does it create new and better opportunities at scale? Does it lower various forms of risk relative to other markets? Because it’s all about risk-adjusted returns,” said CPPIB’s Mr. Leduc.