Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said he will not push the country’s pensions to rethink their mandates, as he leads Ottawa’s effort to entice more investment in Canada. “We want to find some practical, actionable ideas that can be done without too much process,” he said in an interview with The Logic Thursday, on the sidelines of Ivey Business School’s AI symposium in downtown Toronto.

The federal government named Poloz this spring to lead a working group tasked with finding ways to increase domestic assets of Canadian pensions. The initiative, announced in its April budget, was a response to pressure from factions of the business community that insist Canada’s pensions ought to contribute more to domestic firms to help stimulate the country’s sluggish productivity. 

There’s fierce debate over how—or whether—the government should intervene in a pension system that is mostly successful, in part because its funds prioritize investment, regardless of nationality, that will maximize Canadians’ retirement savings. While one camp argues for a hands-off approach, another vouches for new mandates that not only prioritize returns, but also economic growth. 

Poloz appears to be taking a middle ground. “We want to respect the mandates as they are,” he said. “It’s about carrots, not sticks. Can we remove obstacles? Can we create new vehicles of some kind to make it easier?” 

Two months into the working group, Poloz—its sole member, though the government initially planned for seven or eight participants—said he’s received an overwhelming amount of input from pension representatives, other large investors and pension-fund participants. That includes formal submissions from 15 pension funds, on Poloz’s request. While he wouldn’t disclose specific ideas, he said there’s a near-consensus that “‘We would love to invest ​​more in Canada—but.’ It’s the ‘but’ that we’re preoccupied with,” he said. “What’s holding you back?” 

Poloz, now an adviser at law firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, is trying to move quickly on this assignment. He plans to submit his recommendations to the government this summer. “We can’t boil the ocean,” he said. “This government doesn’t have time for that. If they’re going to make changes, they’re going to make changes pretty soon.”