Investment Strategy

Our investment team oversees the investment strategy as set out in the Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures (SIP&P), with the goal of producing a well-diversified portfolio of investments which will ultimately support future member benefits.

The most important aspect of our investment portfolio is strategically selecting the appropriate mix of assets to invest in.

The current mix includes four key areas, which is reassessed every three to five years to ensure it remains aligned with the Plan’s Funding Policy and investment goals:

• Equities (stocks)
• Fixed income (bonds)
• Absolute return (hedge funds)
• Real assets (real estate and infrastructure)

Notes:
The chart presented as the Current Asset Mix reflects the asset mix of the Plan as of March 31, 2022. Canadian Plus includes core-plus fixed income and commercial mortgages. Growth Oriented includes emerging market debt and multi-asset credit strategies. Global Equity includes emerging market equity, global low volatility, and global small cap.

• Our criteria

  The Fund’s portfolio performance is measured by two key metrics:

  1. Generating long-term returns on invested assets in excess of the Funding Policy’s 6% discount rate
  2. Exceeding the return of the Policy benchmark on a 4-year annualized basis.

  This outperformance, or added value, allows for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the investment strategy and its implementation at the total Fund level. Benchmarks are valuable tools we use to measure performance of individual asset classes and the managers who invest in them on our behalf.

  We use a thorough and rigorous risk-controlled approach by choosing an optimized risk level within a multi-year framework and by selecting and weighting asset classes to achieve a target return. By identifying an acceptable risk threshold, we can determine the mix of assets with the best chance to achieve its goal.