No joke.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault owns shares of Calgary-based Suncor Energy in his investment portfolio.
So does Prime Minister Mark Carney. And former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
In fact, every single Canadian eligible for CPP — except those in Quebec — owns Suncor. And Canadian Natural Resources. And TC Energy. And Enbridge, to name a few.
Whether they like it or not, Alberta-based oil companies are helping the CPP outperform the broader market by generating some of its best returns.
For example, its 20 million shares of CNRL are worth about $2.17 billion or more than 20% of the fund’s equity holdings.
By comparison, more than 1 million shares of Carney’s beloved Brookfield are only worth $62 million.
The revelation should surprise no one, not even the Toronto Star, which landed a huge ‘scoop’ (of dog doo) over the weekend by claiming that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre breached some kind of sacred vow by owning Brookfield in one of his ETF funds.
It hasn’t exactly been a good investment — for Poilievre or Canadians in general. That’s because its shares were well off a 52-week high of $90.69 on Monday, at $74.19. That’s down around 10% since the start of the year.
Canadian Natural, meanwhile is up about 9% in the past month alone, AND it generates a 5.29% dividend yield, among some of the best in the business.
Suncor has done almost as well, gaining 10% in the past 12 months and 143% — or $32.91 — in the past five years.
That’s money in the bank.
But pundits have accused Poilievre of being hypocritical for criticizing Carney over his former role as chairman of Brookfield and using his position as the former Governor of the Bank of England to secure loans from the communist government in China and tossing seniors out on the street.
Carney is also accused of profiting from tax havens in Bermuda — something which former prime minister Stephen Harper tried to avoid by introducing the Tax Free Savings Account for all Canadians. Poilievre has taken the commendable step of increasing contribution limits for buying Canadian companies like Suncor and CNRL.
Rather than hypocrisy, perhaps Poilievre was just doing his due diligence?
That same can’t be said for the likes of Guilbeault who went out of his way to destroy shareholder value in some of the the CPP’s — and Canada’s — most valuable companies with his punitive emissions caps and efforts to essentially shut down the oil sector.
If he were an actual director of the company, that would be illegal.
Merely owning Brookfield shares — whether it’s Poilievre or even Carney — isn’t.
According to The Western Standard’s Jen Hodgson: “The Star's misleading allegation against Poilievre is missing the key component — owning Brookfield stocks, directly or indirectly, is not the point of contention. Having a sitting prime minister that holds millions in shares in his former company that also gets awarded government contracts is.”
