Ottawa will lift the 30% investment cap on pension funds in Canada.

In an effort to encourage greater investment, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is loosening regulations for domestic pension funds, enabling them to purchase over 30% of a Canadian company.Two days priorBloomberg — In an effort to encourage greater investment, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is loosening regulations for domestic pension funds, enabling them to purchase over 30% of a Canadian company."The battle for capital has never been more intense at a time of growing economic nationalism," said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in a statement on Friday."Canada must battle for capital more vigorously than ever before, which includes encouraging and assisting Canadian capital to invest domestically. All Canadians' future prosperity depends on this. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and other federally regulated pension managers will be affected by the change, although Freeland's department stated that it will confer with provincial governments over how to handle pension plans that are under to their regulations.Additionally, the government announced that it intends to contribute up to C$15 billion ($10.5 billion) in loans and equity to support the construction of AI data centers, noting that seven pension funds have already indicated interest in supporting such initiatives. The statements coincide with a national discussion about how to address low productivity and soft business expenditure. For a number of years, non-residential corporate investment in Canada has not kept pace with that of the United States. Although the technology industry in Canada is thriving, many promising businesses sell out or relocate to the US at a relatively early stage of development in order to seek expansion.

Few IPOs worth more over $100 million have been made on the Canadian market in recent years.The government stated that as part of the extensive package of initiatives, a fourth round of the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative will be launched, with C$1 billion in funding in 2025–2026 and "more enticing terms for pension funds and other institutional investors." Additionally, Freeland and the government are considering changing ownership regulations that prohibit pension funds from controlling over 10% of municipal utilities, including electricity distributors. Stephen Poloz, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, was asked in April to research ways to encourage the nation's pension funds to make greater investments in Canada. One suggestion was to eliminate the 30% ownership cap. Poloz told Bloomberg in September that several pension funds expressed interest in playing.