It's official - former Bell Canada CEO Michael Sabia is the new head of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec.
Sabia, 55, takes over Canada's largest pension-fund manager amid record $40 billion losses and uncertainty over what role the Quebec government should play in Caisse affairs.
Caisse chairman Robert Tessier made the announcement at a news conference in Montreal on Friday afternoon.
Finance minister grilled
Earlier on Friday, Quebec finance minister Monique Jerome Forget was grilled by opposition committee members as she defended her government's actions in the face of big Caisse losses.
The minister was asked about risky investment decisions made by the Caisse managers and why the government didn't intervene. She defended herself, saying it is up to the Caisse to explain what happened.
"There's an excellent question to ask management at the Caisse de depot," she said.
The legislature committee will meet again in the spring after the Caisse tables its annual report on Apr. 15. The minister will return for more questioning at that time.
Wrangling
It took days of political wrangling for the governing Liberals to come to an agreement with the Parti Quebecois over the hearings.
The minister at first refused to testify before the committee, saying she did not want to politicize the process, but she did an about-face this week.
The committee will also hear next month from current and former Caisse managers as well as Quebec Crown corporations that suffered heavy losses after investing in the pension fund manager.
Mea Culpa
On Tuesday, the former head of the Caisse, Henri-Paul Rousseau, said the losses were his fault and that the Charest Liberals had nothing to do with them.
The Caisse made a crucial mistake when it agreed to a short-term investment that put Quebec money into what turned out to be risky mortgages.
The Caisse invested heavier than most into Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP), mistakenly believing the investment vehicle was as safe as bonds.
