Of all the gains unions have made for workers, the ability to retire with dignity and a pension is perhaps the most valued. Last year employers and employees in Canada contributed over $70 billion to registered pension plans. It is big money. Still, just over a third of workers are covered by RPPs as most rely on the more modest Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security.

The inequality among retirees created by different pension benefits is obvious. There are, however, other contradictions of pension fund capital. These are noted in a recent collection,

The Contradictions of Pension Fund Capitalism, edited by Kevin Skerret and colleagues. Workers continue to contribute to plans that have the “fiduciary responsibility” to deliver a return — even if the investments harm workers and communities.

As the financial capital of Canada, Toronto is at the centre of these contradictions. Not only are the largest pension funds managed on Bay Street, but the city’s burgeoning real estate and technology sectors are lucrative investment targets.

The transformative role pension fund capital attempts to play in shaping urban centres can be seen with two examples involving Toronto’s waterfront. In 2012, the debate over proposals to develop a casino project along the waterfront consumed city politics. Pension funds allied with multinational casino companies in bids to develop a downtown casino.

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