In the federal government's 2016 budget, the government announced that it will shortly launch a public consultation on the usefulness of the 30% rule. The rule restricts pension funds from investing plan assets in more than 30% of the shares that may be cast to elect the directors of a corporation. Real estate, resource and investment corporations that satisfy certain conditions are exempt from the 30% rule. The federal pension fund investment rules are incorporated into the pension legislation of most jurisdictions in Canada.
As outlined in our previous blog post, Ontario has already announced plans to eliminate the 30% rule. On March 14, 2016, it also published proposed amendments to eliminate the 30% rule, subject to certain proposed disclosure requirements or undertakings. Stakeholders are invited to make submissions by April 29, 2016 by email at pension.feedback@ontario.ca.
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