The fight for divestment at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) has hit a standstill.
CDPQ representatives met with members of the Coalition du Québec Urgence Palestine on Wednesday. On Thursday, coalition members told reporters they were asked to plead their case, without being given any answers on if or how divestment will occur.
The coalition is pressuring Quebec’s public pension fund manager to divest from 87 companies they say are complicit in Israeli occupation and war crimes, representing $14.2 billion of the CDPQ’s $434 billion portfolio. Their meeting comes just over a month after 60 groups signed onto a letter calling for divestment, but two years after the issue was first raised by Quebecers.
In a written statement to CKUT, a CDPQ spokesperson did not comment on how the fund handles calls for divestment. But they disagreed with activists’ characterization of the CDPQ’s responsibility to the companies in question, saying, “Our views, which are based on those of credible legal experts, do not agree with those of the Coalition.”
