Cda Pension Plan & Israeli Apartheid: CPP has $1.5B in firms supplying Military, Police, Surveillance, Prison products to Israel

26 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2012-04-19 16:03

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

Israel and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
Should the CPP invest in companies that profit from Israel's military occupation, its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, its destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards, or its construction of the illegal Separation Wall?

New research by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) reveals that in 2011, the CPP had about $1.5 billion worth of shares in 66 large, international companies that supply Israel with military, police, surveillance and/or prison-related products and services. (Five other large Canadian pension funds have invested an additional $3 billion in these 66 companies researched by COAT. See data table.)

If you're among Canada's 16 million CPP contributors and beneficiaries, shouldn't you have a say in whether your money is invested in the production of weapons, military vehicles or other major technologies and services that aid and abet Israel's armed forces, its police, and prisons?

Please join COAT's campaign to expose and oppose CPP investments in corporations that profit from facilitating Israel's violations of international law.

Online PETITION! Click here to SIGN NOW
After signing, please forward this message to others. Thanks!

Learn More! Click here to Read COAT's report
Read the free online version of COAT's recently-published, 54-page report called:
"Profiting from Israeli Apartheid:
CPP Investments in Corporations Supporting Israel's
Military-, Police-, Surveillance-, Prison-Industrial Complex (Part 1)"

Join the Campaign! Click here to Take Action
Find out what else you can do to help support our boycott/divestment/education campaign.

Spread the Word! Click here to get copies of the report
Get copies of our report for yourself and for friends, colleagues, journalists, politicians, and others.

Get Group Endorsements!
Please ask organisations to endorse COAT's campaign to "Stop CPP investments supporting Israel's military, police and prisons."

Social Networking - Click here to stir it up on Facebook!
Encourage friends to join our Facebook group:
"Stop Canada Pension Plan Investments in Israeli Apartheid"

Thanks!
Yours sincerely,
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
Email: [email protected]

P.S. Part 1 of COAT's report "Profiting from Israeli Apartheid" contains separate articles exposing each of the following corporations and their military, police, surveillance and prison-related links to Israel:
3M, Amdocs, Analog Devices, AT&T, BAE Systems, Bank Hapoalim, Bezeq, Bharat Electronics, CAE, Carlyle Group, Caterpillar, Cellcom Israel, Cemex, Cisco Systems, CRH, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Daimler, Delek Group, Dell, Discount Investment Corp, Doosan, Eaton, Elbit Systems, EMC, Evraz Group, Fiat Industrial, Fiat, Finmeccanica, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Honeywell International, Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Part 2 of "Profiting from Israeli Apartheid" will continue this work by exposing the following companies in the CPP portfolio:
Intel, Israel Discount Bank, ITT, Koninklijke DSM, Kubota, Leumi Le Israel, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Motors, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Motorola, Navistar International, NetApp, NICE Systems, Oracle, Parker Hannifin, Partner Communications, Paz Oil, Renault, Rockwell Collins, Rolls Royce, Siemens, Sony, Tata Motors, Texas Instruments, Toyota Motor, Tyco Electronics, Tyco International, Valero Energy, VeriSign, Verizon Communications, and VMware.

Thu, 2012-04-19 16:07

Boom Boom

Richard! Welcome back.

Thu, 2012-04-19 16:18

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

thanks Boom Boom!

It's good to be back.

i hope folks here can tear themselves away from this fine place to go sign our online petition over here

Thu, 2012-04-19 16:29

NDPP

I wonder if Canada is also funding CIJA to pay an active IDF counter-intelligence officer to train a Jewish national security service to spy on Muslims and the BDS, anti-aparthed community? As well, the implications of the Canada-Israel Public Security Agreement may be relevent to the excellent material of Sanders linking corporations and their 'military, police, surveillance and prison-related links to Israel..

see also

http://rabble.ca/comment/1329707

Thu, 2012-04-19 17:13

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Hey, Richard, good to see you again!

Thu, 2012-04-19 17:56

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

Dear NDPP,

With regards to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), I don't know whether their security/surveillance program is in any way funded by the Cdn government, but I do think they are monitoring things pretty well...

An executive from the CIJA was quick off the mark on Monday of this week to contact me by email. He was responding to an email announcement that began circulating that morning to announce our petition, report and campaign, re: CPP Investments in Israeli Apartheid.

His very polite email was succinct and clear. It simply stated:

"I love investing in the Israeli military industrial complex.

Thank you,"

I suppose it was his way of implying that he'd use our list of 66 corporations to help him decide how to invest his earnings, rather than what to divest from, or boycott...

He is the Director of Government Relations for the CIJA.

I'm not sure how he got on our email listserve. I suspect he signed up online to get our announcements. Let me know if you too want to join our illustrious email list for your own "intelligence gathering"!

cheers and hope you'll sign our petition
(I never miss a chance to plug that darn petition, do I?)

richard

Thu, 2012-04-19 18:52

quizzical

how do you know the companies listed are supporting Israel's suppression of Palestinians? not trying to say it isn't so really want to know how you know before i take action.

Thu, 2012-04-19 19:38

NDPP

Thanks for the info Richard. I signed the petition of course and strongly urge others to as well. Zionism and support for it is thriving in Canada.

I note from the link you provided that CIJA's Directors include Stockwell Day and Lorne Nystrom. Nystrom will no doubt ensure that the NDP Opposition leader, Thomas Mulcair remains, in his own words:

"an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and circumstances."

You will know, as I do, that there is great reluctance and resistance to challenge or question the growing connections and alarming influence of Israel in Canada. The national security project headed by an active IDF officer, which will liase with local law enforcement, has thus far gone virtually unmentioned or uncriticized in both mainstream media and alternative, despite its disturbing implications.

As well Zionist activists of the Jewish Defence League Canada, have joined forces with anti-Indigenous groups fighting native rights. Some of these, such as Gary Mchale who leads the main redneck 'settler-rights' movement in Caledonia against the Six Nations land reclamation of the Haldimand tract, are now seen on the JDL's picket lines and visa versa. Settlers join settlers.

In any case, your material is most impressive and I hope you'll contribute more.

ndpp

Thu, 2012-04-19 20:14

Unionist

This is a very strange campaign. Divest our pension plans from Toyota, Microsoft, 3M, AT&T, CAE, Caterpillar, Dell, Fiat, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Honeywell, Hyundai, Intel, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Oracle, Renault, Rolls Royce, Sony, Texas Instruments, Tyco, ...

Just a few picked at random there.

Right.

Yeah.

And should we individually stop using their products as well - or that's ok?

And we have an alternate list of investments which are not guilty of whatever undocumented crimes the above have committed?

And once we've accomplished this simple task, what do we do for an encore - colonize Saturn?

Maybe I'm missing something here. I support BDS, and there are all kinds of local and sectorial campaigns aimed at raising consciousness and actually striking some realizable blows in response to the call of Palestinian civil society. But this? This will accomplish, exactly, what - other than instilling a conviction that the authors are not serious?

I'm trying to ask this as a question between allies. I will not sign such a petition until someone convinces me that it isn't just plain harebrained.

Thu, 2012-04-19 21:47

#10

NDPP

Between allies - TO HELL WITH INVESTORS AND THEIR INVESTMENTS!

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/06/shareholders-to-caterpillar-our-product-ha...

Resisting occupation is frequently 'harebrained' - people do it anyway and sometimes win. Others, like CIJA 'love investing in the Israeli military-industrial complex'.

Thu, 2012-04-19 21:47

#11

Unionist

There, NDPP, is exactly the kind of targeted action that can have some impact, even if it doesn't succeed in any immediate sense. It's precisely the opposite of taking on every company in the world simultaneously, and threatening them with divestment of the CPP... I simply don't get it. It's the wrong fight and it sends no message. Especially when the details are missing.

[url=http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/divestment]Here's the guideline[/url] I think we must follow:

Quote:
Divestment calls for the withdrawal of stocks and funds from corporations complicit in the violation of international law and Palestinian rights and ensures that investment portfolios and public funds are not used to finance or purchase products and services from such companies.

Do all those companies fit within this definition?

Thu, 2012-04-19 23:20

#12

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

<a href="http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/66/66.htm">Richard Sanders</a> wrote:

This issue of Press for Conversion! – and one soon to follow – are inspired by the Palestinian proposal for a military/police embargo of Israel, and by the original BDS call to:

* Boycott Israeli and international companies "that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights," and

* Divest from "university investment portfolios and pension funds" that are "used to finance such companies."

COAT’s research cites data from hundreds of sources to expose 64 corporations that have two things in common:

(1) they profit from links to Israeli government institutions, agencies and corporations that hide behind the euphemisms of "defence" and "homeland security," and

(2) the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) held shares in these companies, with a market value of $1.4 billion in 2011.

The CPP also holds shares in many corporations that invest their wealth in military and so-called "security" industries that support Israeli apartheid. This is done directly, or through venture capital funds like Vertex, see pp. 50-52.

There are 16 million CPP contributors and beneficiaries who have been forced to invest their retirement savings in corporations with varying degrees of complicity in Israel’s system of apartheid, its occupation of Palestinian lands, its military/"security" industries, and its aerial bombardments of Lebanon (2006) and Gaza (2008-2009).

I haven't read it all yet, but it sounds as if Richard has done his homework on this.

Fri, 2012-04-20 14:23

#13

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

Crazy as a hare chucking eggs at a Merkava
Dear Unionist,

You suggest this effort is "harebrained," say it is "a very strange campaign," and ask "what do we do for an encore - colonize Saturn?" Then you say we're "allies."

When the CIJA exec wrote to me saying "I love investing in the Israeli military industrial complex, Thanks." at least he was civil and polite.

You make the following sensible remark: "Maybe I'm missing something...."

What you missed is the research report on which this effort is based. As stated in my initial message here:

Learn More! Click here to Read COAT's report
Read the free online version of COAT's recently-published, 54-page report called:
"Profiting from Israeli Apartheid:
CPP Investments in Corporations Supporting Israel's
Military-, Police-, Surveillance-, Prison-Industrial Complex (Part 1)"

When you click the above link and read this report, you'll see individual articles on each of the following corporations:
3M, Amdocs, Analog Devices, AT&T, BAE Systems, Bank Hapoalim, Bezeq, Bharat Electronics, CAE, Carlyle Group, Caterpillar, Cellcom Israel, Cemex, Cisco Systems, CRH, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Daimler, Delek Group, Dell, Discount Investment Corp, Doosan, Eaton, Elbit Systems, EMC, Evraz Group, Fiat Industrial, Fiat, Finmeccanica, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Honeywell International, Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Part 2 of the report, with articles on all the remaining companies, has already been researched and written, and will be published this summer.

The petition does not list particular company names, it just states the matter in principle, basically:
The CPP should not invest in companies supplying military-, police-, surveillance- or prison-related products to Israel.

If people agree, then I hope they'll sign the petition.

The research report documents the complicity of 66 companies in the CPP's portfolio. It's up to readers to decide which of these companies they wish to divest from and to boycott. That's a matter of conscience. Everyone draws the line somewhere. I can only hope this research helps people decide where to draw their own lines.

Companies were not excluded from the research because they are huge, powerful multinationals that don't care what we think or do. The list of complicit companies would be pretty small if that criterion was used. The Palestinian call for BDS did not specify that international supporters should not take action against massive, bloated corporate behemoths. Such actions may seem as misguided as trying to colonize Saturn, or as futile as kids throwing pebbles at tanks.

Perhaps the COAT report is also futiel. Data was compiled, written up, published, put online for free, and an online petition was created. I hope it was not all a waste of time. Even if we don't get the CPP to divest one cent, awareness is being built, and that's a step forward. As they say, one has to light a candle, not just curse the darkness...

The primary goal may have to remain "merely" educational, for now, because most Canadians are blissfully unaware that
(1) CPP investments are linked to Israeli apartheid and
(2) that the companies in COAT's research are complicit in aiding and abetting Israel's military, police, etc.

Although I have no illusions that we are going to bring down these companies, I still suffer from the possibly harebrained delusion that an effort should still be made to inform people about the companies that their compulsory pension plan is supporting. That way, folks will be able to express their discontent through words and actions (divestment and boycotts).

Fri, 2012-04-20 15:02

#14

Unionist

Richard, I apologize for being sarcastic about your petition campaign. I come from a milieu where people are not all on the same page on any ideological or political issue, even though they are united under the skin in the same cause by the very nature of who they are. They are also rude and nasty and sarcastic when someone comes along with some proposal which, even if they were all convinced of its moral probity, is unrealizable, illusory, and a waste of good time. That's how I would qualify a petition campaign asking the CPP to divest from all these companies.

I admire the work you've done over the years, and I respect and value your research work. I recall the raising of consciousness in respect of the arms trade and some successes in that regard. I don't mean to belittle your contribution. But I think this petition campaign is a wrong approach, akin to a petition campaign asking Danielle Smith to be a little less right wing. Right aim, wrong way to get there, and doesn't look credible to people who need to see how their actions will contribute to victory.

You haven't answered some of the points I raised:

Which companies should the CPP invest in? Any ideas?

Should people who sign your petition feel the need to boycott those same companies that you want the CPP to boycott?

You say:

Quote:
It's up to readers to decide which of these companies they wish to divest from and to boycott. That's a matter of conscience.

What do you mean by that? That I can use Intel, but decide not to use Microsoft? I don't understand.

By the way, I realize your web site hasn't been re-done in a long while and that such jobs require time and money that activists may not have, but I note it was created with Microsoft FrontPage (a long discontinued product). There are some people around babble that have the smarts to advise you how to change that, hopefully in a quick and clean way.

Fri, 2012-04-20 15:38

#15

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Unionist wrote:

By the way, I realize your web site hasn't been re-done in a long while and that such jobs require time and money that activists may not have, but I note it was created with Microsoft FrontPage (a long discontinued product). There are some people around babble that have the smarts to advise you how to change that, hopefully in a quick and clean way.

Are you really so desperate to find fault with the COAT website that you need to resort to criticizing the software with which it was created? For being "discontinued", yet?

Fri, 2012-04-20 15:48

#16

Unionist

M. Spector wrote:

Are you really so desperate to find fault with the COAT website that you need to resort to criticizing the software with which it was created? For being "discontinued", yet?

Uhhh no, Spector - for being Microsoft - which is apparently committing war crimes and therefore not suitable for CPP investment.

Fri, 2012-04-20 15:59

#17

NDPP

Unionist wrote:

There, NDPP, is exactly the kind of targeted action that can have some impact, even if it doesn't succeed in any immediate sense. It's precisely the opposite of taking on every company in the world simultaneously, and threatening them with divestment of the CPP... I simply don't get it. It's the wrong fight and it sends no message. Especially when the details are missing.

[url=http://www.bdsmovement.net/activecamps/divestment]Here's the guideline[/url] I think we must follow:

Quote:
Divestment calls for the withdrawal of stocks and funds from corporations complicit in the violation of international law and Palestinian rights and ensures that investment portfolios and public funds are not used to finance or purchase products and services from such companies.

Do all those companies fit within this definition?

NDPP

I'm picking from the list at random. Will do more as time and inclination occurs - you're only one endorser name after all. So Caterpillar was my first pick, here's the next of the evil ones.

www.lockheedmartin.com

Fri, 2012-04-20 16:01

#18

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

@ Unionist

In my opinion your participation in this thread sounds like a series of angry, sarcastic rants by someone who thinks the BDS campaign against Israel is a waste of time.

I suggest you walk away from the keyboard and think about it for a while.

Fri, 2012-04-20 22:28

#19

NDPP

Here's another one to remove from your investment portfolios CAE-Aeronautics

Israeli Designed Drones Fly Over Alma Que

http://www.cjnews.com/news/israeli-designed-drones-fly-over-alma-que

"Israeli designed drones have begun making demonstration flights out of the small Lac St Jean city of Alma, in conjunction with Montreal-based CAE Inc. Last August, CAE, a leader in the manufacture of flight simulators and other aviation training equipment, and Aeronautics Ltd, one of Israel's largest defense corporations announced an agreement and development project in the non-military uses of drones.

www.aeronautics-sys.com/aerostar_tactical_uav

www.cae.com/en/military/home.asp

Sat, 2012-04-21 09:23

#20

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

Who are the Worst Offenders on the List?

It is difficult to select the "worst offenders" among the 66 companies in the CPP portfolio that I researched.

Part one of COAT's report (Profiting from Israeli Apartheid) focuses on the first 35 companies (alphabetically).

From among those 35, I think I'd select the following "top ten" as the most significant in terms of supplying weapons-related systems to Israel's military.

(Click the names below to read my articles in the current report):

BAE Systems

CAE Inc

Daimler AG

Eaton Corp

Elbit Systems

EMC Corp

Fiat Industrial

Fiat SpA

Finmeccanica

Honeywell International

It's Debatable
However, this selection is debatable. I wonder whether Caterpillar (CAT) should be added to this list of war industries. (Should it perhaps replace EMC?)

Some would argue that CAT's "construction equipment" is not a military weapons system. However, CAT bulldozers have been used in "combat/assault operations" since the 1967 war. CAT's D9 dozers are often operated by Israeli troops and they have been used to destroy tens of thousands of Palestinian homes and hundreds of thousands of Palestinian trees. CAT bulldozers are often armoured, weaponised and some are even roboticised! (Some of these "add-ons" are done by Israeli companies, like Israeli Military Industries and Israeli Aerospace Industries, which are state-owned Israeli war industries that crop up in many of the company profiles in my research.)
And, as I uncovered in my research, CAT also makes diesel engines for boats. CAT boat engines power Israeli Navy commando boats that were used in the deadly attack against the Mavi Marmara when it was trying to deliver aid to Gaza in 2010.

Worst of the Worst?
In terms of picking the single "worst" war industry on the above list, I am torn between BAE Systems and Elbit Systems.

It is interesting to note that although some major international pension funds (such as Norwegian State Pension Fund, divested from Elbit in 2009, due to BDS movement pressure, the Canada Pension Fund ADDED Elbit to its portfolio in 2011!

Sat, 2012-05-05 16:30

#21

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Quote:
Efforts by BDS activists from around the world are sending a strong message to corporations that their collusion in Israel’s unlawful occupation and serious violations of international law is under scrutiny and will not be tolerated. [url=http://www.whoprofits.org/HP]A recent research report exposed Hewlett Packard’s role[/url] in sustaining the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people, with its supply of biometric monitoring systems to Israeli military checkpoints inside the occupied West Bank and technological solutions to Israel’s army and illegal colonial settlements, contributing to the caging of Palestinians in fragmented ghettos. [url=http://www.endtheoccupation.org/section.php?id=209]Motorola provides surveillance systems for Israeli settlements, military bases and the apartheid wall, and communications equipment to the Israeli occupation army.[/url]

- [url=http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/canadianboattogaza/2012/05/united-method...

Thu, 2012-05-10 15:30

#22

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

So far, over 730 people have added their names to our petition to stop CPP investments in multinational corporations that are arming the Israeli government with all manner of war technologies used in military attacks, as well as supplying police, prison, and surveillance-related equipment, and other so-called "homeland security" products that facilitate the illegal occupation, or help build military checkpoints, apartheid roads and the "Separation Wall."

Please Join Us! Sign the petition here:
http://peaceaction.ca/cpp-israel

View Confirmed Signatories & Comments:
http://peaceaction.ca/cpp-israel-signatures

Thu, 2012-05-10 16:40

#23

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

I've expanded my research into CPP investments in Israel apartheid to include five other large Canadian pension funds.

This research reveals that Canada's Six largest pension funds' have invested $4.5 billion in companies supplying the Israeli government with military, police, prison-related, surveillance and other so-called "homeland security" products and services that are facilitating the occupation, helping build the "Separation Wall."
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/66/CdnPensionFunds.htm

Canada's "Big 6" retirement plans have also invested in dozens of the world's top 100 weapons industries (as ranked by military revenues in 2010).
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-Top100.htm

They also have an additional $400 million invested in 15 other major war industries which, though not ranked in the Top 100 in 2010, were in that prestigious club during the previous 11 years.
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-Top100-former.htm

The "Big Six" have invested $2 billion in about 50 corporations that are building the F-35 warplane, including its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin.
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-F35.htm

I posted this stuff about the "Big 6" over here:
http://rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/war-investments-cdas-big-6-pension-funds-invest-billions-worlds-top-weapons

Sat, 2012-05-12 21:14

#24

Fidel

Richard Sanders wrote:

It is interesting to note that although some major international pension funds (such as Norwegian State Pension Fund, divested from Elbit in 2009, due to BDS movement pressure, the Canada Pension Fund ADDED Elbit to its portfolio in 2011!

Oh those Scandinavians and their sovereign wealth funds. If only they would untax oil exports and allow marauding international capital to work market magic in Norway, they wouldn't have hundreds of billions of dollars in national savings to even worry about. I suppose it's a plus for Canada being a corrupt petro state indebted to the tune of half a trillion dollars. I knew there had to be a positive side to it.

ETA: If only it was easy as using the jedi mind trick against them who sell weapons to corrupt stooges and their taxpayers:

Quote:
Elan Sleazebaggano: You wanna buy some death-sticks?
Obi-Wan Kenobi: You don't want to sell me death sticks.
Elan Sleazebaggano: Ah, I don't want to sell you death sticks.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: You want to go home and rethink your life.
Elan Sleazebaggano: I want to go home and rethink my life.

Fri, 2012-05-25 09:21

#25

Richard Sanders Richard Sanders's picture

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has just announced the details of its biennial Public Meetings to be held in nine provinces on June 11.

The CPPIB are the people who make decisions about what corporations our retirement savings are invested in. They should also be held accountable and asked to publicly justify their decisions.

However, their public meetings are only held once every two years. So it's a bit of a rare opportunity to take advantage of when we can.

The times and places of their nine upcoming public meetings have just been listed on the CPPIB website.
http://www.cppib.ca/About_Us/public_meetings.html

Webcast viewers of these meetings can also submit questions but they need to register in advance. (Click the link at the bottom of CPPIB's "Public Meetings" page provided above.)

COAT Petition re: CPP and Israel
The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) started a petition urging the CPPIB to divest from companies that supply military/police/surveillance/prison-related technology and/or services that aid Israel's wars, its military occupation, the destruction of tens of thousands of Palestinian homes and orchards, and the building of checkpoints and the illegal separation wall, etc.

Almost 1000 have signed our petition so far. See confirmed signers and their comments here:
http://peaceaction.ca/cpp-israel-signatures/

If you haven't already done so already, please take a minute to sign now. Thanks:
http://peaceaction.ca/cpp-israel/

Petition signatories who live in the nine cities where the CPP meetings will be held have been notified and organisations that have officially endorsed COAT's petition* have been asked to tell their contacts.

Questions/Comments for the CPP meetings
People could ask general questions about the $1.4 billion that the CPP has invested in 66 companies that are complicit in supplying military/police/surveillance/prison-related technology and/or services to aid Israel's wars, its military occupation, the destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards, and the building of checkpoints and the illegal separation wall, etc.

Or, people could focus on one specific company that the CPP invests in. There are detailed articles dealing with 30+ such companies in the latest issue of COAT's publication, online at our website:
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/66/66.htm

Others may want to ask those in charge of the CPP why our retirement savings have been invested in many of the...

Companies Building F-35 warplanes
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-F35.htm

World's Largest War Industries, 2010
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-Top100.htm

World's Largest War Industries, prior to 2010
http://coat.ncf.ca/research/Pensions-Top100-former.htm

Anything that peace activists can do to help spread the word about the CPPIB meetings, or the COAT petition, would be much appreciated.

thanks and cheers
richard

* Note re: Organisations endorsing the Petition
The organisations that have endorsed the COAT petition so far are:

Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Halifax Peace Coalition
Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Palestinian Canadian Congress
Science for Peace

Sat, 2018-10-13 15:35

#26

NDPP

Canada Pension Plan Invests Millions in Private Prison Corporations

https://buff.ly/2NHdCgF

"The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board holds $5.9 million of stock in the US-based private prison corporations, Geo Group (formerly associated with Wackenhut Corrections Corporation) and CoreCivic (formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America). Documented and The Guardian jointly report, 'One of Canada's biggest pension investment funds has increased holdings in two US private companies that run American prisons and incarcerate the majority of detained immigrants.

The CPP Investment Board is a Crown corporation independent from the federal government but accountable to it. The federal Minister of Finance, currently Bill Morneau, appoints individuals to its 12-member Board of Directors. A spokesperson for the pension plan says, 'CPPIB's objective is to seek a maximum rate of return without undue risk of loss. This singular goal means CPPIB does not screen out individual investments based on social, religious, economic or political criteria.'

That approach has enabled this country's public pension plan to also invest in the transnational corporation Goldcorp, the private-for-profit water company Anglian Water, and the tar sands oil company Laricina Energy Ltd. Documented and The Guardian add, 'CPPIB holds a $186 m investment in Exxon Mobil, a $202m investment in the tobacco giant Philip Morris International, $18.7 m in the defence contractor General Dynamics and $36.8 m in defense contractor Raytheon..."

As long as the cheques cash, who cares where it comes from - right Canada?

CPP Investment Board

http://www.cppib.com/en/contact

See Petition and more info in posts above.