The government promised Canadians their money would be protected. In an official backgrounder released alongside the Canada Strong Fund announcement on April 27, the federal government stated that investors would “be able to share in the upside, while their initial invested capital will be protected” — in a structure, Prime Minister Carney told reporters, consistent with buying a government bond. There is no published legal framework to back that promise. No guarantee structure has been specified. No statutory mechanism has been written. No enabling legislation has yet been introduced.

The debate about whether this fund will finance pipelines or power lines is already underway. This piece is about something different: what protections exist for the Canadians who will be asked to put their savings in?

Six weeks after the announcement, the fund’s investment mandate has not been published. Its governance framework has not been finalized. The project-selection criteria have not been released. The disclosure requirements for the retail product have not been specified. The government’s own announcement acknowledged that “further details on the Fund’s mandate, structure, and implementation plan will be provided in the coming months.” The $25 billion seed capital is already being drawn from the federal budget over three years. The retail product is being designed in parallel with the governance framework, not after it.

There is........

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