Canada

CANADA- Robert Tessier has joined Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec as chairman.

CANADA - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has revealed a decline of C$39.8bn in the value of its assets in 2008.

CANADA - The Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement System (OMERS) has posted a loss of CAN$8bn (US$6.38bn) for 2008.

US - The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board posted returns of negative 6.7% for the quarter ended December 31 on the back of weak equity markets.

CANADA - The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has announced that its strategic investment arm has bought the asset management arm of Guard Resources (GRL).

CANADA - Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) has said it will double the funding of its pension plan due to poor asset performance.

CANADA - The vast majority of employer contributions to defined contribution (DC) funds will be the same or higher in 2009 than last year, the Quebec-based Order of Charted Human Resources Councillors (CRHA) has said.

CANADA - The five unions representing Air Canada workers are calling on the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) to force ACE Aviation Holdings to fund Air Canada's pension plan before being permitted to wind-up the holding company....

CANADA - The current operating environment for pension funds has discouraged the creation and continuation of defined benefit (DB) schemes, according to a high level report by the Nova Scotia government on the future of the pension system.

CANADA - Quebec employment minister Sam Hamad has proposed legal measures to guarantee pension benefits to pensioners and workers whose schemes go bust as a result of the financial crisis.