Pension funds stand ready to buy airports, pipelines, and power assets as Ottawa opens the pipeline
Canada has topped the Global Infrastructure Investor Association's bi-annual Pulse Survey for the first time, overtaking the US, according to the GIIA report conducted by Alvarez & Marsal.
The survey, which commenced in Q1 2026 before the US-Iran conflict added further energy market volatility, attributed Canada's rise to concrete policy signals rather than US instability alone.
Infrastructure funds globally raised a record $289bn in 2025, the GIIA reported, with deal sentiment improving heading into the second half of 2026.
The policy signals centre on the $25bn Canada Strong Fund, announced April 27 by prime minister Mark Carney and structured as an arm's-length Crown corporation, according to Canada.ca.
As reported by Gowling WLG, the fund is designed as a commercial co-investment vehicle — not a grant program — targeting infrastructure, energy, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing alongside private and institutional capital.
Some analysts have questioned the sovereign wealth fund label, Policy Options noted, as Ottawa is borrowing to finance domestic industrial policy rather than saving surplus wealth.
The fund's precise mandate and risk profile remain unsettled for institutional investors tracking it.
The more immediate opportunity for pension funds is in asset privatisation.
As reported by the National Post, several of Canada's largest funds have already told the federal government they stand ready to buy Canadian airports, with wish lists extending to nuclear generation, pipelines, bridges, toll roads, electricity grids and ports.
The Spring Economic Update 2026 said the Carney government has formally proposed asset recycling, selling or leasing government-owned assets to institutional investors and redirecting proceeds into the Canada Strong Fund and national infrastructure priorities.
As Benefits and Pensions Monitor reported, the federal government scrapped the 30 percent cap on pension fund investments in Canadian entities, and established a Major Projects Office to fast-track approvals and reduce pipeline risk for large institutional investors.
The domestic investment gap those measures are meant to close is substantial.
As reported by Policy Options, the Maple 8 invest less than half the global industry average domestically, and when fixed income is excluded, Canadian exposure drops to roughly 12 cents per dollar.
CBC News reported in February that CPP Investments, with $780bn in assets at the time, had 47 percent invested in the US against just 13 percent in Canada — a ratio that has widened since the foreign investment cap was removed in 2005.
The debate over how to close that gap has sharpened significantly.
Benefits and Pensions Monitor reported that HOOPP, with $123bn in assets, holds more than 55 percent in Canadian investments, and OTPP, with $270bn in assets, holds 36 percent domestically.
Both figures demonstrate that meaningful domestic allocation is achievable at scale.
But OMERS, with $141bn in assets, holds just 16 percent in Canada and 55 percent in the US, per the same report.
CPPIB CEO John Graham told the Financial Times he is “super encouraged” by Carney's efforts to create large-scale investable projects but pointed to an “opportunity deficit.”
The fund would deploy more capital domestically “if we see opportunities,” he said, within its mandate to maximise returns without undue risk.
The Fraser Institute argued in a March paper that a domestic investment mandate would function as a tax on Canadian pensioners.
Senate finance committee chair Senator Claude Carignan countered in the Globe and Mail that voluntary measures have not worked and legislative changes should be considered, citing the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec's dual mandate as a workable model.
He acknowledged the position put him at odds with his own party.
CPP Investments posted a 7.8 percent net return for fiscal 2026, lifting assets to $793.3bn, though the result fell well short of its 13.2 percent benchmark, as reported by the Globe and Mail.
CEO Graham attributed the gap to the fund's deliberate underweight in concentrated technology stocks.
Infrastructure investments returned 11.2 percent, with toll roads, ports and rail performing well; the sustainable energies portfolio gained 23.2 percent, aided by energy market volatility.
Graham said the Canada Strong Fund and potential airport privatisation represent “interesting opportunities,” per Yahoo Finance, while maintaining the fund operates without undue pressure to invest domestically.
The CPP contribution rate cut from 9.9 percent to 9.5 percent effective January 1, 2027, announced with unanimous provincial and territorial support will trim roughly $3bn annually from total contributions.
Graham said CPPIB has sufficient liquidity and does not expect an impact on its investment strategy.
“If the government can continue to send clear policy signals like reforming airport governance and nuclear innovation, they can convert this investor interest into real deals and capital flow,” GIIA chief executive Jon Phillips told the Financial Post.
