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Gold/Mining/Energy : TLM.TSE Talisman Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew who wrote (907)	5/30/2000 11:11:00 AM
From: Sylvia Dupuis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1713

Those that can't do, teach. Those that can't teach, invest. BADLY!

To: Andrew who wrote (907)	5/31/2000 9:04:00 AM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1713

Teachers will take time on Talisman move. No moral dilemma Financial Post, May 31 By Ian McKinnon CALGARY - Despite pressure from a major partner, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board will not make any quick move to dump its $190-million position in Talisman Energy Inc. Lee Fullerton, spokeswoman for the OTPPB, said fiduciary duty does not allow her firm, which buys and sells index members on various exchanges such as the Toronto Stock Exchange, to make investments based on moral grounds. "By law, we need to invest to the best financial interest of members of the plan and right now that policy is to invest in all stocks in the TSE 300 index," she said. "Our sole job is to provide a secure retirement income to teachers. That mandate does not allow us the discretion of using our moral values or someone else's moral values to influence that." The 15-person executive committee of the Ontario Teachers' Federation last week voted to ask the OTPPB, responsible for more than 200,000 teacher pensions, to sell its stake in Talisman because of the company's 25% ownership of a massive oil project in Sudan. Fiduciary duty does not pre-clude or prevent ethical investing, said Barbara Sargent, president of the OTF. "We understand that if and when they do start to move to divest, it's not going to happen overnight. They will have to do it carefully so as to be seen as making sure that their fiduciary responsibility is upheld." An official with Ontario's Financial Services Commission said pension funds can switch to ethical investing by notifying members of the change in policy. The OTF names four directors on the OTPPB's board and another four are picked by the provincial government, the other partner in the plan. The two sides agree on a ninth director who serves as chairman. Critics say the Sudanese African government is using oil revenue, obtained in partnership with Talisman, to fuel its participation in a long-running and bloody civil war. Talisman, for its part, says it is helping raise living standards in the country while upholding human rights. Members of the OTF are not satisfied with Talisman's efforts in Sudan and the motion was aimed at sending a message to Canada's largest independent oil and gas producer, Ms. Sargent said. The pension fund owned 3.8-million shares of Talisman at the end of 1999, down from 4.5-million earlier in the year as it reduced equity holdings in favour of inflation-sensitive instruments, Ms. Fullerton said. canoe.ca