Can The CPP Investments Organization Pass The 'Legitimacy' Test?

 "Legitimacy: authenticity, vitality ... ability to be defended by logic and justification"

Oxford Dictionary

“Overstaffed, overpaid, and underperforming, the CPP investment fund is in need of a sharp course correction.”

Andrew Coyne, The Globe & MailMay 30, 2025

What is the Canadian Pension Model?

As the CPP Investments organization is the biggest of eight large Canadian pension funds with similar characteristics (CDPQ, PSP, OTPP, OMERS, HOOPP, BCI, AIMCO are the other seven), Andrew Coyne’s cited opinion piece effectively questioned the legitimacy of an organization design that has globally become known as the Canadian Pension Model. Paraphrasing the Oxford Dictionary definition of ‘legitimacy’, is the Model really unauthentic, invalid, and unable to be defended by logic and justification, as Mr. Coyne suggests? That is the question this Letter addresses.