CAAT says gains from publicly traded stocks helped offset weak returns from private assets last year.Merle Robillard/The Globe and Mail
The CAAT Pension Plan earned an 8.4-per-cent return last year as strong gains from publicly traded stocks helped offset weak returns from private assets.
The Toronto-based pension plan’s investment performance fell short of its internal benchmark, which was 11.2 per cent. The shortfall was “almost entirely” attributable to underperformance in its private-equity portfolio, which increased in value by just 1.5 per cent, CAAT said in its annual report.
Over 10 years, CAAT’s average annual return is 9.6 per cent. The plan’s assets increased to $25.4-billion, from $23.3-billion a year earlier. Its funding reserve rose to $6.7-billion, up $600-million year-over-year.
Most of CAAT’s financial performance in 2025 preceded a period of upheaval over apparent governance failures that culminated in the departure of the plan’s chief executive officer, Derek Dobson, in early March, as well as the chair and vice-chair of the plan’s board.
Kevin Fahey took over as CAAT’s acting CEO and chief investment officer earlier this year, and the plan is searching for a permanent CEO.
Mr. Fahey said the plan’s 2025 investment performance was “just fine,” and that external managers that oversee some of its public-equity investments “really stepped up and added a lot of value, and that did a lot to offset the challenges we had on the private-equity side.”
Through the first four months of 2026, Mr. Fahey said nothing about the plan’s financial performance “causes me any alarm,” despite the turmoil that has almost entirely reshaped the plan’s leadership since three top executives resigned in late January.
The CAAT plan was 124 per cent funded at the end of 2025, meaning it has $1.24 in assets for every dollar that it expects to pay out in pensions, which was unchanged from a year earlier.
“Mercifully, I came into the job with a really strong investment portfolio,” Mr. Fahey said. “That, frankly, made things an awful lot easier on the way in.”
As he worked to stabilize CAAT’s leadership, Mr. Fahey said he “was lucky that we had a really great group of people to choose from in repopulating the executive team, and they have been tremendously supportive of me, but also in lending that broader stability over the first few months.”
Among staff, “the morale is good,” he added.
The multiemployer pension plan serves Ontario’s colleges and more than 800 public- and private-sector employers and has about 125,000 members. The Globe and Mail has been a participating employer in CAAT since 2022.
CAAT launched an internal review of its governance led by a third-party expert late last year. The review is “in its final stages,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Throughout the process, the board has worked collaboratively and constructively with key stakeholders, including the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), to ensure a thorough and objective assessment,” the statement said.
“The board is confident that a comprehensive action plan will further strengthen governance at CAAT, reinforce accountability, and ensure continued alignment with best practices in the interests of beneficiaries.”
Mr. Fahey declined to comment further on the governance review.
Mr. Dobson left the plan in March after agreeing to a settlement that included repaying a $1.6-million vacation payout that became a flashpoint for concerns about CAAT’s governance and oversight.
The settlement’s terms were not disclosed.
In a message to members in CAAT’s annual report, the plan’s new board chair, Audrey Wubbenhorst, and vice-chair Janet Greenwood acknowledged “governance-related matters brought to the board’s attention.”
A fundamental part of the role that board trustees play is to provide “oversight and counsel to keep CAAT focused on its strategy and the beneficiaries’ long-term interests,” they said.