Investments in China by Canada’s largest public pension funds are facing increased scrutiny amid worsening relations between the two countries and allegations that some of those investments are funding the oppression of China’s Uyghur minority.
Recently, representatives of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, which manages the pensions of B.C. public sector workers, told a parliamentary committee studying Canada-China relations that they had paused new direct investment in China because of the increasing risks associated with that country.
That pause came amid allegations of Chinese foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian elections, and of Chinese state actors allegedly harassing Canadians who oppose the Communist Party. Earlier this month, Canada expelled a Chinese consular official, and China retaliated within hours, expelling a Canadian diplomat and saying that Canada had “sabotaged” relations between the two nations….