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In contrast, the Canada Pension Plan identifies its mandate as strictly “to maximize returns without undue risk of loss,” stating baldly: “We invest in the best interests of CPP contributors and beneficiaries.” Frankly, there’s room to doubt how well the CPP is fulfilling even that mandate, but at least it leaves the nation-building to the politicians.

Mr. Couillard also suggested the arrangement could act as a possible model for other provinces, which is where the concern starts to mount. The Wynne government in Ontario is proposing to introduce its own provincial pension plan, after complaining bitterly of Ottawa’s refusal to expand the CPP to allow for Canadians’ alleged “undersaving.” And yet, while the Ontario plan, which will siphon 1.9% of earnings from both employee and employer on incomes up to $90,000, is pitched as having been modelled on the CPP, there is evidence the province may see it as a tool of “economic development,” hoping to tap this new captive pool of capital to finance its infrastructure ambitions. In other words, the QPP model, not the CPP.

Actively managed investment funds tend to underperform the market average as it is, without being force-fed a diet of public works projects

Do we exaggerate? Consider this passage from last year’s provincial budget: “By unlocking value from its assets and encouraging more Ontarians to save through a proposed new Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, new pools of capital would be available for Ontario-based projects such as building roads, bridges and new transit.” (Emphasis added.)

This might be highly advantageous to the government. The advantage is not so clear for the pensioner. Actively managed investment funds tend to underperform the market average as it is, without being force-fed a diet of public works projects. Workers dragooned into financing the public plan might well earn more were they permitted to invest the funds themselves.

The details of the Ontario plan are still being finalized. Given the financial straits the Liberals find themselves in, its putative beneficiaries should keep a close watch on the process. Public pension plans are meant to benefit those who paid for them, not the governments that created them.

National Post