Caisse’s stake in Kinder adds Quebec to bitter fight

MONTREAL • Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec disclosed a large stake in Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd., potentially bringing the country’s second-largest pension fund manager into the acrimonious fight over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Montreal-based Caisse held 10.2 million shares as of Dec. 31, according to its annual report released Tuesday. The stake, worth about $181 million at Wednesday’s prices, would make it the largest outside holder of Kinder’s Canadian unit, amounting to about 3 per cent of the stock in the pipeline company or 7.8 per cent of the publicly available shares. It’s unclear how many the fund manager holds now.

The disclosure is another twist in a saga that has Alberta’s provincial government threatening to impose an oil embargo on neighboring British Columbia, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attempting to mediate by launching talks to potentially support the company financially. A halt to energy shipments would have ripple effects across North America’s west coast.

Leery of federal overreach, Quebec’s government had essentially sided with British Columbia — the birthplace of Greenpeace — in its fight against Trudeau’s attempt to flex jurisdictional muscle and ensure the pipeline’s construction. Now the pension fund manager’s disclosure reveals Quebeckers have a direct stake in its completion.