Quebec's Deposit and Investment Fund and Government Step Up Investments That Support U.S./Israeli Genocide
Montreal, June 14
The latest report from Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories at the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council on July 3 contains important information. The UN Special Rapporteur refers to more than 60 international companies, including arms manufacturers and technology companies, accused of profiting from an Israeli economy that has become an "economy of genocide." Among them are large companies headquartered in the United States, Western Europe and NATO member countries including Canada, which are benefiting from announcements by NATO and the European Union that they will increase their military spending to five per cent of GDP.
"The arms and surveillance industries have increased their contracts with Israel. This has had an impact on the country's economic growth in specific sectors of the Israeli economy," Albanese explained at a discussion forum.
"Last month alone, there was a $70 billion increase in stock market value. Why? Because Israel continues to sell weapons and surveillance systems that are tested and used in Gaza and other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory. This is part of the global arms race," she noted.
Albanese provides a list of "enablers -- financial, research, legal, consulting, media and advertising firms -- long involved in sustaining the settler-colonial occupation through knowledge, narratives, skills and investment, [that] have continued to support, profit from and normalize an economy operating in genocidal mode."
Among the financial institutions mentioned at the top of the list is the Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund (CDPQ) and the Quebec government. By stepping up investments in companies that do business with Israel, especially to supply its war machine, they are fully complicit in the genocide the U.S./Israeli Zionists are carrying out in Gaza.[1]
The CDPQ manages $473.3 billion in savings of 6 million Quebeckers. At least $9.6 billion of this is invested in arms and high-tech companies mentioned in the Special Rapporteur's document.
A closer look at the CDPQ's 2024 annual report reveals that there has been a marked increase in its investments in the military sector, and more specifically that it has invested $27.4 billion in more than 76 companies that are complicit in Israel's crimes in Palestine, including companies headquartered in Quebec with close ties to the state of Israel.[2]
Among them is Montreal-based CAE, in which the CDPQ holds more than $78 million in bonds. CAE specializes in flight simulators and signed a $100 million contract in 2013 with the Israeli company Elbit Security Systems to train Israeli Air Force pilots for the "next generation of combat aircraft," meaning the F-35 fighter jets currently used to bomb the population of Gaza. In February, the Canadian government awarded CAE a 37-year, $5 billion contract to train Canadian pilots for the CF-35A fighter jets it has contracted to buy from U.S. arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
The CDPQ owns more than $159 million in shares in Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin's website says the company contributes more than $6 billion to the Israeli Air Force and Army, as well as to the Israeli military industry. The fund also owns $53.8 million in shares of Northrop Grumman, which produces key components of the F-35, and $103.2 million in shares of Boeing, which makes the F-15 jets used by Israel.
Albanese reports that the Anglo-Swiss mining oligopoly Glencore, which owns the Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda and the Raglan nickel mine in Nunavik, is also complicit in Israel's crimes. It continues to supply the coal needed to fuel Israel's power plants, which should also be providing power to Gaza. However, "Since October 2023, Israel has cut energy to most of Gaza. Without electricity or fuel, most water pumps, hospitals and transport reached the brink of total collapse; collapsed sanitation systems have contributed to a resurgence in polio; and vital desalination plants were forced to shut down," notes the report. Glencore's operations in Canada are supported through deferential government treatment permitting them to skirt environmental regulations in Canada.[3][4][5]
Notes
1. "From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide," Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, June 30, 2025.
2. "2024 Analysis of CDPQ investments," Coalition du Québec URGENCE Palestine and Just Peace Advocates, 2025.
3. "Glencore Horne Smelter and Government Fail to Protect Health of Workers and Community," Gerry Lauzon, TML Daily, November 14, 2022.
4. "Mining Town of Rouyn-Noranda Demands Government Uphold Environmental Standards," Interview, Nicole Desgagnés," TML Daily, September 30, 2022.
5. "Government Bowing to Demands of Mining Companies to Produce Nickel Without Regard for People's Health," TML Monthly, July 17, 2022.
(With Information from
UNHRC, TML, Radio-télévision suisse, Coalition du
Québec Urgence Palestine, Just Peace Advocates, CAE, Boeing,
Lockheed Martin)
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 16 - July 12, 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/TS55169.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca