Ontario sets up new corporation to manage public sector pensions

TORONTO – Ontario is setting up a new body to pool and manage public sector pensions.

The Liberal government announced that the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario was established July 1 and is set to be up and running by next spring.

The government says the fund is expected to lower administrative costs and help improve return on investments, but participation will be voluntary for broader public sector organizations.

The Ontario Pension Board — which administers provincial government employees’ pensions as well as those of workers at government agencies, boards and commissions — and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board are founding members, with combined investment assets of about $50 billion.

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Charles Sousa says the new corporation “will not require any financial support from the Ontario government or the Ontario taxpayer and will operate at arm’s length from the government as a member-based non-profit corporation.”