Canada’s largest pension funds are pledging to invest tens of billions more dollars in the country, as the federal government looks to attract $1 trillion in capital. The Maple 8’s investment records, however, raise doubts about whether the money they’ve promised will reach Canadian companies trying to grow. 

After years of pressure to invest more at home, Canada’s major pension funds announced big commitments earlier this month, as Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed hundreds of investors and executives to Toronto for the Canada Investment Summit. 

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said it will invest an extra $10 billion in Canada by the end of next year. OMERS committed at least $10 billion over five years. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is aiming to add up to $25 billion in the coming years and the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. expects to increase its Canadian assets by almost $30 billion. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, meanwhile, is contributing $25 billion to a new $50-billion fund with Brookfield Asset Management to invest in Canada.

The pledges are a stark reversal for the funds which had, until recently, resisted setting targets for more Canadian investments, citing their responsibility to maximize returns for pensioners rather than concern themselves with economic development. 

Venture capital investors who have long pushed pensions to fund more startups and scaleups welcome the commitments, but say it remains unclear how much of the money will reach companies seeking venture and growth capital to scale their businesses. “It’s positive to hear that the pension plans are engaging in Canada,” said Peter van der Velden, founder and executive chairman of life-sciences investor Lumira Ventures. “You have to go in layers, though, below that and ask where that capital is going to be allocated.”

A review of the latest Maple 8 annual reports by The Logic provides hints of how the funds invest their money in Canada. There’s not much consistency in how the funds report their holdings. Many of them disclose different details, making their portfolios difficult to compare.  Where the reports provide geographic breakdowns, bonds, real estate and infrastructure accounted for relatively large portions of their Canadian holdings, while private equity—the category that includes investments in startups and scaleups with high growth potential—made up a smaller share at several pension funds. 

CPP Investments, for example, had 12 per cent of its $793-billion portfolio in Canada at the end of March. Domestic investments accounted for 14 per cent, or roughly $21.5 billion, of its real assets—which covers real estate, infrastructure and energy. Its private equity portfolio, meanwhile, was just one per cent in Canada, representing about $1.4 billion. Its active equities portfolio, which holds assets in public companies and those soon to go public, was six per cent Canadian with about $2.8 billion in value. 

The pattern is similar elsewhere. PSP Investments, which manages about $321 billion in total assets, held roughly 20 per cent of its gross investments in Canada, compared to 4.9 per cent—about $1.9 billion—of its private equity portfolio. Its real estate holdings were 14.5 per cent Canadian, worth about $4 billion. Thirteen per cent ($4.2 billion) of its infrastructure portfolio was in Canada, along with 11.5 per cent of natural resources, worth $2.3 billion. Public equities and fixed income had the biggest share of Canadian assets: 30 per cent worth $49.5 billion.

At the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 40.2 per cent of assets were in Canada, including 58.3 per cent of its real estate portfolio and 16.9 per cent of its infrastructure. OMERS had 18 per cent of its assets in Canada, with the largest chunks of that in government bonds, real estate, and infrastructure. Ontario Teachers’ reported 31 per cent of its gross investments in Canada, with more than half of its real estate portfolio in domestic assets. 

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan had the highest Canadian exposure among the funds, at 49 per cent. Its 2025 annual report highlights Canadian bonds, worth more than $76 billion, as a core part of its portfolio. It reported about $12.8 billion in Canadian public equities and $398 million in Canadian private equities. 

La Caisse differs from the other funds in both its mandate and its asset allocation to Canada. Alongside generating strong returns for its members, the fund is required to contribute to Quebec’s economic development. It reported 29 per cent of its assets in Canada in its last fiscal year, including 20 per cent of its private equity portfolio, well above its peers who provided geographic breakdowns for private equity. 

The Canadian Shield Institute, a public policy think tank, argued in a recent report that pension funds’ new Canadian pledges will do little for economic growth if they don’t change their investment patterns. The think tank is publishing a series of report cards on the funds’ Canadian portfolios, starting with CPP Investments on Tuesday. 

The Institute is calling for the federal government to mandate that Canada’s pension funds invest three per cent of their total assets into high-growth, Canadian-controlled companies. That could include investments like those made by Ontario Teachers’ venture-growth arm or OMERS Ventures, as well as investments through other Canadian venture funds. 

The institute estimates a three-per-cent target would steer $70 billion to $90 billion of the Maple 8’s assets toward Canadian growth companies over time, and believes the funds could balance the added risk through the rest of their portfolios. It argues that helping Canadian companies grow would strengthen the economy pensioners rely on, which helps serve the funds’ “primary purpose” of “supporting workers in their retirement.” 

Patrick Searle, CEO of the Council of Canadian Innovators, said more pension capital in growth-stage companies could help keep private companies from selling equity stakes to foreign investors or leaving Canada altogether. “That is how ownership, IP and ultimately, decision-making leave the country,” he said. Searle—whose organization represents more than 175 high-growth Canadian firms, did not say whether a mandate was the right lever, but said he “welcomes the debate” on the issue. “Canadians should be having a serious conversation about how more of our own capital helps finance our own ambition,” Searle added.

Senia Rapisarda, a managing director at HarbourVest Partners, has been a strong proponent of encouraging more pension capital for innovative Canadian companies. She said mandates could work, but she prefers a different approach than what the Canadian Shield Institute proposed. 

Rapisarda said pension funds typically want to write cheques that are too large for a Canadian venture and growth-stage company to handle. To solve that problem, she said pensions could pool their money into a fund of funds to be spread among several venture capital vehicles. Those funds would make smaller investments in Canadian companies on the pensions’ behalf. As companies grow and need larger rounds, the pensions could invest directly alongside the venture funds, she said. 

Van der Velden favours a similar model, which he said is commonly used in the U.S. and has driven investments in promising tech and innovation companies.

The federal government has tried to draw more pension money into Canada without setting investment targets. Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz examined the issue in 2024, which led to Ottawa’s proposal to remove a rule that limited pension funds to 30 per cent of the voting shares of a Canadian company. The government also said the latest iteration of its flagship venture capital program, the Venture and Growth Capital Catalyst Initiative, would include measures to incentivize pension fund participation. Details of what such a plan would include are yet to be released.

Ottawa has also said it will open the country’s four largest airports to private investment, a move several of the Maple 8 have long been pushing for. CPP Investments, PSP Investments, BCI and La Caisse have all expressed interest in investing in the assets.

The Logic asked the Maple 8 funds how they plan to invest their new Canadian commitments. Only three responded with comment, and they all expressed interest in big infrastructure projects. 

BCI CEO Gordon J. Fyfe confirmed an interest in “defence, critical minerals, as well as existing infrastructure like airports, energy and transportation.” CPP Investments spokesperson Frank Switzer said the pension will consider investments of about $5 billion each in critical infrastructure, private equity, energy and power, digital infrastructure, transportation, critical minerals “and other major industrial opportunities.” PSP Investments global head of infrastructure investments Andrew Alley said the firm is keen to back airports, energy and transportation assets and digital infrastructure such as data centres in Canada. 

Editor’s note: The numbers for PSP’s Canadian holdings have been updated to reflect its most recent annual report.