Rights restricted

Re: Business leaders call on Canadian funds to pivot their approach closer to home — Barbara Shecter, March 7

A full-page ad in the National Post on March 6 from a collection of CEOS, union executives and others laments that Canadian pension funds have substantially reduced their investments in publicly traded Canadian companies. It seems that fund managers have connected increased government red tape, spending and taxes with lower returns and decided to invest elsewhere.

Instead of asking for a course correction, those who signed the letter are asking provincial and federal governments to compel Canadian pension funds to invest in their publicly traded companies.

Politically connected special interest groups requesting increased government interference in the Canadian economy is a textbook example of why Canada isn’t working for many of its citizens.

Governments in Canada already restrict citizens’ spending in numerous ways — no spending our own after-tax money on health care unless approved by the government, restrictions on buying alcohol in one province and transporting it to another (enforced by the Supreme Court), and in most provinces, being unable to hire tradespeople licensed in another province. Now these business elites want the government to control the savings of millions of Canadians by dictating how pensions funds make investment decisions, undermining their primary mandate of seeking maximum returns while minimizing risks.

The rights and freedoms of Canadians are being steadily eroded by government, the bureaucracy and elites who all support each other at the expense of the country at large. Add on Bill C-63, Canada’s new Online Harms (censorship) Act and we’re getting ever closer to China’s model of government. At least they get things built.

Gary Krieger, North York, Ont.