Abstract
As well-functioning welfare systems have continued to be vital in many countries, governments have needed to reform their national pension schemes quite considerably to fulfill ever-expanding obligations and responsibilities. The Canadian government has recognized this regarding the Canada Pension Plan, with significant reform initiatives having been taken in, and since, the 1990s involving its contribution rate and financial administration. A core feature of the reform was the establishment in 1997 of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as a semi-autonomous crown corporation to replace a more centralized mode of investment. The Board has sought actively to meet important investment targets and, in the process, to foster its legitimacy by safeguarding its operational autonomy while being responsive to changing political and socio-economic circumstances. Accordingly, it is a worthy focus of research and analysis, providing valuable insights into the establishment and empowerment of organizations in terms of declared purposes and performance expectations of governments and the public.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bill C-2. (1997). An Act to establish the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and to amend the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, 36th Parliament: https://www.parl.ca/LegisInfo/en/bill/36-1/c-2
Bill C-26. (2016). An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act and the Income Tax Act, 42nd Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-95/hansard
Boin, A., Fahy, L. A., & t’Hart, P. (Eds.). (2021). Guardians of public value: How public organisations become and remain institutions. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Calculation of Contribution Rates Regulations. (2007). SOR/2008–50: https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/regu/sor-2008-50/latest/sor-2008-50.html?searchUrlHash=AAAAAAAAAAEADVNDIDE5OTcsIGMgNDAAAAABABAvMTMxODctY3VycmVudC0xAQ&resultIndex=8
Canadian charter of rights and freedoms. (1982). Constitution Act, 1982: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html#h-28
Cochrane, D. (2016). B.C. delays signing on to CPP expansion plan, CBC News: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-pension-plan-cpp-british-columbia-delay-1.3680881
Coyne, A. (2019). Canada Pension Plan gets lucky with active management, for now: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/andrew-coyne-canada-pension-plan-gets-lucky-with-active-management-so-far
CPP (Canada Pension Plan). (1966). Consolidated Acts: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts
CPP. (1985). Consolidated Acts: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-8/fulltext.html
CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board). (2006). Annual Report 2006: https://www.cppinvestments.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ar_2006_xmz1W15.pdf
CPPIB. (2022). Annual Report 2022: https://www.cppinvestments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/CPP-Investments_F2022-Annual-Report-EN.pdf
CPPIBA (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act). (1997). Consolidated Acts: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-8.3/
Crown Corporation General Regulations. (1995). SOR/95-226, https://canlii.ca/t/55q2w
DiNapoli, T. P. (2012). Retirement security for Americans and the role of defined-benefit pension plans. Public Administration Review, 72(4), 483–484. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02603.x
Dowling, J., & Pfeffer, J. (1975). Organizational legitimacy: social values and organizational behavior. Pacific Sociological Review, 18(1), 122–136. https://doi.org/10.2307/1388226
Habermas, J. (2008). Nach dem Bankrott (T. Assheuer, Interviewer), Review of Nach dem Bankrott, 6 November: https://www.zeit.de/2008/46/Habermas
Hardymon, G. F., Lerner, J., & Leamon, A. (2009). The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Harvard Business School Case 809-073, January 2009. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=36791
Holzmann, R. & Hinz, R. P. (2005). Old-age income support in the 21st century: an international perspective on pension systems and reform. World Bank, Washington, DC. http://go.worldbank.org/NOHR1Y9LU0.
Holzmann, R., Hinz, R. P., & Dorfman, M. (2008). Pension systems and reform conceptual framework. Social Protection discussion paper; no. SP 0824. World Bank, Washington, DC. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/716871468156888545/Pension-systems-and-reform-conceptual-framework
Income Tax Act. (1985). c 1 (5th Supp), https://canlii.ca/t/562t0
Little, B. (2008). Fixing the future: How Canada’s usually fractious governments worked together to rescue the canada pension plan. University of Toronto Press.
OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). (2018). How inflation challenges pensions. https://www.oecd.org/pensions/How-inflation-challenges-pensions.pdf
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. (1991). Canada Pension Plan Fourteenth Actuarial Report. https://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/Eng/Docs/pension.pdf
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. (1993). Canada Pension Plan Fifteenth Actuarial Report. https://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/Eng/Docs/pension.pdf
Parliamentary Debates. (1997). House of Commons Debates. 36th Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/36-1/house/sitting-44/hansard
Parliamentary Debates. (2016). House of Commons Debates. 42nd Parliament: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-95/hansard
Raymond, D. M. (2009). Integrating goals, structure, and decision-making at Canadian pension plan investment board. Rotman International Journal of Pensions Management, 2(1), 22–28.
Waitzer, E. J., & Sarro, D. (2013). The public fiduciary: emerging themes in Canadian fiduciary law for pension trustees. Canadian Bar Review, 91(1), 163.
World Bank. (2008). The World Bank Pension Conceptual Framework. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/389011468314712045/pdf/457280BRI0Box31Concept1Sept20081pdf.pdf
Zheng, B. (2017). An evaluation of the “DB Partially Funded Scheme” of the Canada Pension Plan over 20 years since its inception: an innovative way to reduce the contribution rate. Economics and Management, 6, 87–117.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Guangqi, L., Tianqu, Z. Legitimacy of crown corporations in Canada: the case of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. GPPG 3, 407–420 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43508-023-00079-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43508-023-00079-w