Show us pension numbers, Quebec opposition urges
Last Updated: Friday, October 31, 2008 | 3:54 PM ET
CBC News
Amid the turmoil in global credit markets, opposition parties in Quebec are demanding the Liberal government issue a financial report card on the province's pension fund.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec might have lost as much as $30 billion since the onset of the worldwide financial crisis, Action Démocratique du Québec Leader Mario Dumont said Friday.
"We have made calculations that show it is likely the biggest losses in history of the Caisse de dépot have happened," he said.
"If you were calling your financial agent and said what is in your RRSP, what it in is your account, and he couldn't tell you, you would fire him.
"That's exactly what he is telling us now," Dumont said.
Dumont said he hopes the pension fund's results will be included in a financial statement expected to be delivered Tuesday by provincial Finance Minister Monique Jérôme-Forget.
But opposition parties will have to wait until February, when the pension fund traditionally renders its annual financial report card, Jérôme-Forget said.
The Parti Québécois is also demanding answers about the pension fund. "Quebecers have a right to know," PQ legislator François Legault said.
The pension fund's losses will impact other provincial corporations and retirement funds, and the Liberals have a duty to open the books, Legault added.
