Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: Dabbling in cover-ups at the behest of Harper/Flaherty

Obviously there are those who are well served by preventing Canadians at large from realizing that Stephen Harper’s income trust tax did more that simply raid the nest eggs of the 2.5 million Canadians who own them, since in reality every Canadian had their personal nest egg raided by Stephen Harper’s ill conceived income trust move, namely their CPP.

All of which could have been simply avoided by shutting down trusts and grandfathering the existing trusts. That way the losses to the CPP would not have occurred, Stephen Harper wouldn’t have broken his promise and these trusts wouldn’t be picked off by foreigners as we have witnessed in spades.

Since when has a government ever acted in a way that has put a $300 million permanent hole in the Canada Pension Plan? Premeditated and deliberate no less. I have learned from top sources that this truth of Harper’s imprudent actions of October 31, 2006 is something that the CPPIB and the PMO are desperate not get out.

When CAITI innocently posted this reality concerning the loss sustained by the CPP on the news ticker tape of our website, which at the time was half the loss it is today, we received no less than three incoming overtures from the CPPIB to take this offensive truth off our website. How accountable and transparent is that?

It’s obvious this request came from the very top of the CPPIB, namely David Denison. since the first contact came from the most junior person working in the CPPIB’s “Communications” Department. Keep in mind, the CPPIB is not the CPP. Canadians are the CPP. The CPPIB is charged with managing the assets of the CPP on Canadians behalf. It appears that they also dabble in cover-ups at the behest of Harper.

That’s the way cover-ups always work. Let’s get the most innocuous guy to make the request.....after which the real players quickly reveal themselves as their temperature level starts to boil. Here was that first foray. I think it is incumbent on the Canadian Media to start making inquiries from the top down. I’ll make it easy for them. Here’s the derivation of the pension plan’s $300 million loss. Here’s David Dension’s contact info. And here’s the first attempt at suppression that I fielded (see e-mail of October 30, 2007 below)

No doubt the CPPIB wil try to blow off the media with the line that I ultimately got, which is that income trusts are not a “focus are for the CPPIB”. How convenient. How irrelevant and completely arbitrary, since money is money, and since when does owning over $1.3 billion of a single asset class, not constitute a “focus area”? Perhaps only after the government in power has reduced its value by $300 million to mere $1.0 billion. Here’s part of my response:

“The CPPIB may be of the view that ”this is not a focus area” for it, however I do believe the loss of pension assets which you manage of this magnitude by the pension beneficiaries, namely all Canadians, is. Particularly, since this material loss was the direct result and sole consequence of a tax policy that was enacted without any public consultation and misleadingly proffered up as “strengthening Canada’s social security system for seniors and pensioners” in the enabling legislation, the Ways and Means Motion.

Not sure which pensioners they had in mind, however certainly not the ones who you manage money on behalf of."


From: "Pedrosa, Manuel"
Date: October 30, 2007
To: contact@caiti.info
Subject: Re: CPP has lost $158 million


Good Afternoon,

I would like to speak to someone about your scrolling marquee on your Web site that declares that the Canada Pension Plan has lost $158 billion as a result of Haper’s broken promises.

The only contact information on you Web site is this e-mail address.

Regards,

Manuel

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Manuel Pedrosa
Specialist, Communications
Communications and Stakeholder Relations
CPP Investment Board
One Queen Street East
Suite 2600
Toronto, ON M5C 2W5