A Commons committee recommended that the cabinet implement measures to prevent unethical Chinese companies from receiving public pension funds.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), the largest pension plan in the country, invested in Chinese coal mines, propaganda film studios, and a solar power company associated with slave labour.“There is no legislative or regulatory provision that would prevent investments in the People’s Republic of China or in companies that are complicit or linked to human rights abuses,” said the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations report. It noted the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act “has a clear objective, to achieve a maximum rate of return” regardless of ethics.“There are currently no measures which prevent those pension funds from investing in companies in the People’s Republic of China responsible for or complicit in human rights violations,” said the report The Exposure of Canadian Investment Funds to Human Rights Violations in the People’s Republic of China.The committee recommended that the cabinet investigate “how it could compile and maintain an official list of companies deemed unsuitable for investment” including “a list of companies in the People’s Republic of China that Canadian public pension plans are prohibited from investing in due to risks to national security, corruption or gross human rights violations.”The CPP Investment Board manages a total of approximately $575 billion.The CPP invested $4 million in Longi Green Energy Technology Company Limited, which is the biggest maker of solar panels worldwide.In 2021, US Customs stopped Longi shipments because they believed that some subcontractors had used Uyghur Muslim slave labour.In its 2019 and 2020 Annual Reports, the Board disclosed holding $141 million worth of stock in Chinese coal companies. These companies included China Coal Energy Company Limited, which operates 12 mines, and China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, the largest state-owned coal mining company in the People's Republic.In the Board's 2021 Annual Report, it was revealed that they held $7 million worth of shares in Communist Party film studios, even as the Commons censured China for crimes against humanity.The investments comprised $4 million in China Film Company Limited, a state-run distributor known for producing "Amazing China,” a film depicting “President Xi’s vision of a globally resurgent nation.”On May 8, Michel Leduc, senior managing director at the CPP Investment Board, gave testimony to the committee. He stated that China represented 10% of their holdings, Canada accounted for 14%, and the United States made up 35%.“We do absolutely understand there are very significant risks,” said Leduc.“Human rights are increasingly an investment consideration. It is how we see the world. We strongly believe any business, any asset, any company that does not take human rights seriously will just not be around, so it is a destruction in value.”
