Corporate law, pension law and the transformative potential of pension fund investment activism.

摘要

Pension funds, the funds held in trust to support occupational pension plans, represent significant funds of capital. In the past decade some members of the labour movement have sought to have more active involvement in pension fund investment decision-making. They have seen this involvement as a strategy for influencing corporate management and practice, and for encouraging productivity, local and regional development and long-term growth and sustainability. More radically, they have seen it as a means to create new conceptions of “value” that include factors other than monetary return, and to transform capital by gaining greater social and democratic control over it. They have pursued strategies such as advocating for greater representation on pension plan boards of trustees or investment advisory committees, shareholder activism including proxy voting, investment screening and economically targeted or community investing.; This thesis assesses these strategies within the Canadian context and looks at their transformative potential in light of pension law and corporate law principles and practice. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)