Fund members warn LNG bets breach fiduciary duty and risk stranded assets
Canada's eight largest pension funds control roughly $2.6tn in assets, and Ottawa wants more of it flowing into domestic projects, including liquefied natural gas.
That push, The Energy Mix, is drawing public objections from the beneficiaries whose savings are at stake.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne confirmed in February that he would meet quarterly with managers of the so-called Maple Eight, he told CBC News.
The talks would focus on directing their capital toward domestic projects.
He said he had already pressed all of them on whether they could "do more together," while respecting that they operate independently.
Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health says that could extend to Phase 2 of LNG Canada and other oil and gas infrastructure.
Opposing beneficiaries argue such financing would breach funds' fiduciary duty.
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) holds nearly $280bn, and putting any of it into LNG would be "imprudent," Patrick McCartney, a retired Toronto District School Board teacher, told The Mix.
He pointed to the rising risk of stranded assets as renewables absorb almost all new global electricity demand, and said the fund "should focus on renewables."
Several funds have signalled openness.
At the OTPP's mid-April annual general meeting, CEO Jo Taylor declined to rule out LNG investment, Shift reports.
“Would we discount looking at gas and liquefied natural gas as a project? No, we wouldn't,” Taylor said.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) dropped its net-zero commitments last May.
The largest Maple Eight fund went on to tell the Financial Post in September that "here in Canada, we like oil and gas pipelines."
Shift adds that three of CPPIB's 12 directors now hold fossil fuel industry ties, most recently Elizabeth Cannon, who also sits on the board of Canadian Natural Resources Limited.
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), which manages nearly $132bn, has also positioned itself to participate.
Chief investment officer Michael Wissell told Reuters in March the fund is ready to back “nation-building” projects.
“We have the capital available right now to make those investments,” Wissell said, adding it is “just waiting for those opportunities to manifest themselves.”
Pipelines could qualify if aligned with HOOPP's 2030 climate goals, Reuters reports, remarks Shift calls “major red flags.”
OMERS, which manages some $145bn for 665,000 members, is moving the other way, divesting its 25 percent stake in Spanish pipeline operator Exolum in a deal expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
Shift cautions that OMERS must resist reinvesting in fossil fuel infrastructure, noting how chief legal and sustainability officer Michael Kelly “distinguished existing LNG from new LNG” at an April City of Toronto committee meeting.
That distinction sits at the centre of the dispute.
In a memo shared with The Mix, Shift argues that backing LNG Canada amounts to "a de facto investment in fossil fuel expansion."
It says the money would free up financing for the project's Phase 2 expansion and a new gas pipeline to feed it.
Contractors have already received a “limited notice to proceed” on Phase 2, which would double the Kitimat terminal's capacity from 14m tonnes per year, while Shell's $22bn acquisition of Arc Resources in late April secured gas supply for an expanded facility.
For some contributors, the stakes are personal.
Lisa Jeffery, a high school science teacher retiring after 30 years, told The Mix she is “furious” her pension is “backsliding on its climate commitments,” warning the strategy could undercut other holdings such as real estate and infrastructure exposed to climate risk.
