October, 2009
Thank you for your e-mail.  I am responding on behalf of Teachers’ Pension Plan.
We are aware of the meeting scheduled for October 28; however, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has not organized this meeting. In addition, we have no policy or plans to abstain from investing in specific countries, except in occasional circumstances when the Canadian government imposes sanctions.
According to a web posting, it appears the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and Teachers for Palentine are organizing the meeting. We have no involvement in it, nor have the organizers contacted us.
http://www.caiaweb.org/node/1431
Our investment policy is clear: Ontario’s teachers are promised a pension and our job is to invest the pension fund to help secure their retirement income. We consider all investment opportunities that will help pay pensions in the future. Like other pension plans, we cannot select or exclude investments on the sole basis of social, political, or other non-financial criteria. We must consider the long-term prospects for each investment, as well as plan members’ best financial interests. That’s our responsibility and it’s also the law.
If teachers want us to avoid specific sectors or investments and are willing to risk earning lower returns, teachers would have to first agree on what investments are acceptable (through the Ontario Teachers’ Federation, one of the plan sponsors), and then convince the Ontario government (the other plan sponsor) to change the law. Without the mandate or legal authority to screen investments, we will continue our current practice of investing for the best possible returns at an appropriate level of risk.
Our investment principles are listed on our website:
http://www.otpp.com/wps/wcm/connect/otpp_en/Home/Investments/Investment+Strategy/Investment+Pri nciples/
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