ELFEC’s Board of Directors are pleased to share a few strategic changes to our investment portfolio to better our fulfill our mandate as Responsible Investors.

Recent changes included:

• Exiting our holdings in the Montrusco Bolton Canadian Equity Income Pooled Fund.
• Purchasing individual stocks modelled on the Equity Income Strategy.
• Selling bonds issued by two companies involved in tar sands oil production.
• Selling shares in oil and gas companies involved in the Exploration and Production (E&P) sub-sector.
• Re-investing capital by purchasing shares in a renewable energy company.
• As well as, purchasing shares in several Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Our rationale:

• ELFEC made a commitment in 2016 to move away from investments in fossil fuel production and increase investment in renewable energy.
• The equity income strategy offers the potential of more predictable dividend income and protection against market swings. 
• We wanted to take on more exposure to the real estate sector as an alternative to fixed income securities (bonds), thereby reducing sensitivity to interest rate changes.

All of our investment policy decisions are made with one eye on financial results and the other eye on the social and environmental impacts of what we do.