New Caisse boss grilled at Quebec public finance committee

The new boss of the Caisse de dpt et placement du Qubec says his goal is to learn from the mistakes made at Canada's biggest pension fund manager and do better.

Michael Sabia made the comments to reporters before appearing before the provinciallegislature's public finance committee.

"My objective in this context is to learn whatever is necessary from our 2008 experience, turn the page, reinforce the Caisse and better protect the assets of Quebecers," Sabia said in Quebec City.

The former CEO of BCE Inc.took over the Caisse in March after the value of the pension fund giant's assets plummeted 25 per cent in 2008 to about $120 billion from $155 billion, hurt by its holdings in asset-backed commercial paper.

Sabia, the first anglophone president of the Caisse, said Monday he understands Quebecers were disappointed with the results.

Franois Legault, finance critic for the opposition Parti Qubcois, asked Sabia why the Caisse lost $10 billion more than the market in 2008, with $3.7 billion of that in the real-estate sector.

Although he offered some general opinions, Sabia deferred to Fernand Perreault, the head of the Caisse's real estate arm, to answer questions at the hearing on the Caisse's real-estate losses.

The commission is mandated to study the finance ministry's budgetary credits for 2009-2010. It will also examine the Caisse's strategies, which will be announced over the coming months.