Action Alert: Ethical Investing and the Canada Pension Plan
Inter Pares invites you to participate in pushing for reforms to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's investment of our pension contributions. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) controls one of the largest investment funds in the country. More than half of CPPIB assets are held in publicly traded stocks of Canadian and foreign corporations. Over the last several years, Inter Pares and other Canadian organizations have pushed the CPPIB to adopt a socially responsible investment framework to guide investment decisions. While CPPIB has begun to incorporate social and environmental criteria into decision-making, much more work needs to be done.
The CPPIB continues to invest in activities that are obviously contrary to the public interest. The CPPIB invests in the world's leading arms manufacturers, in Canadian and foreign companies operating in conflict zones overseas, in companies guilty of fraud and criminal offenses, and in the tobacco industry. Many Canadians find this unacceptable. (For more information on these investments, read "Your pension contributions at work?" and "Deadly investments.")
The provincial finance ministers meet every three years with their federal counterpart for a triennial review. The last meeting took place during the summer of 2006, and the issue of socially responsible investments was not put on the agenda. Inter Pares invites Canadians across the country to express concern about the lack of such a framework to guide CPP investments.
We are asking Canadians to send letters or e-mails to their provincial ministers, copied to the Canadian Finance Minister, to ask that the issue of socially responsible investing is at least put on the agenda of the federal/provincial meeting. Public pension funds in other jurisdictions have adopted ethical investment principles, and there is no reason why Canada cannot do the same. You can find the ministers' contact information below.
Thank you for your attention to this very important social justice issue.
Federal and Provincial Ministers of Finance
(Note: Quebec has its own pension plan and thus is not included on this list.)
Canada:
The Hon. James M. Flaherty
Minister of Finance
Department of Finance Canada
1st Floor, East Tower
140 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A OG5
Phone: (613) 996-7861
E-mail:
jflaherty@fin.gc.ca
Alberta:
The Hon. Lyle Oberg
Minister of Finance
Legislature Office
#408 Legislature Building
10800 - 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6
Phone: (780) 427-8809
Fax: (780) 428-1341
E-mail:
strathmore.brooks@assembly.ab.ca
British Columbia:
The Hon. Carole Taylor
Minister of Finance
PO Box 9048
STN PROV
Victoria, BC
Phone: (250) 387-3751
Fax: (250 ) 387-5594
E-mail:
carole.taylor.mla@leg.bc.ca
Manitoba:
The Hon. Greg Selinger
Minister of Finance
450 Broadway
Winnipeg, MB R3C 0V8
Fax: (204) 945-6057
E-mail:
minfin@leg.gov.mb.ca
New Brunswick:
The Hon. Victor Boudreau
Minister of Finance
Centennial Building
P.O. Box 6000
Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1
Fax: (506) 457-4989
E-mail:
Victor.Boudreau2@gnb.ca
Newfoundland:
The Hon. Tom Marshall
Minister of Finance
Main Floor, East Block
Confederation Building
P.O. Box 8700
St. John's, NL A1B 4J6
Phone: (709) 729-3775
Fax: (709) 729-6791
E-mail:
finance@gov.nl.ca
Nova Scotia:
The Hon. Michael Baker
Minister of Finance
1723 Hollis St.
PO Box 187
Halifax, NS B3J 2N3
Fax: (902) 424-0635
E-mail:
coughlat@gov.ns.ca
Ontario:
The Hon. Greg Sorbara
Minister of Finance
7 Queen's Park Crescent, 7th floor
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y7
E-mail:
gsorbara.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Prince Edward Island:
Hon. Wesley J. Sheridan
Minister of Finance
Shaw Building, 2nd Floor South
95 Rochford Street
P.O. Box 2000
Charlottetown, PEI C1A 7N8
Phone: (902) 368-4050
Fax: (902) 368-6575
E-mail:
wjsheridan@gov.pe.ca
Saskatchewan:
The Hon. Pat Atkinson
Minister of Finance
Legislative Building, rm. 322
Regina, SK S4S 0B3
Phone: (306) 787-0110
Fax: (306) 787-6055
E-mail:
minister@finance.gov.sk.ca
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