The topic of investing and managing employer-sponsored fund assets in a changing and restructuring
economy is still a fairly new one in Canada. As mentioned at the outset, one of the biggest challenges to
the CLMPC in writing this document has aggregate investment data and analysis gaps. Members of the
Canadian pension community and stakeholders in business, labour and government must certainly see
Patience, Prudence and Jobs as a first step in truly understanding and appreciating the current and
potentially future contribution of pension funds. As more public policy discussion of this topic ensues, it is
of paramount importance to improve the quantity and quality of related research. Priorities may include:
- further research into the contribution of pension funds to specific venture supply and disbursement
trends;
- more and better data elucidating the parameters of middle market investing and its supply from
pension funds and other institutional investors;
- research into pension participation in specific private debt and equity placement activity and
various types of event-driven transacting;
- more and better data indicating the investment of pension funds in small-cap public equity (e.g., the
Nesbitt Burns Index);
- more study of how alternative strategies for pension shareholder activism can enhance
corporate performance in an economic and jobs context;
- consideration of the effects of applying social returns criteria to the investment and management
of pension assets;
- a profile of the residential and non-residential development component of pension-supplied real
estate investing;
- a measure of pension investment activity in the development of infrastructure and public works;
- further and more detailed investigation into how to overcome pension barriers to entry or sustained
involvement in private capital markets;
- further assessment of the relative effectiveness of asset-targeting models and partnerships in Canada
and abroad;
- a look at new opportunities for more labour-management co-operation in pension investment
decision-making processes.