The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that the federal government is forming a task force under former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz to find ways to encourage Canadian pension funds to invest more of their assets in Canada. The Globe's Ian McGugan writes that wooing pension funds has become a high priority for Ottawa: The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for instance, had a mere 14 per cent of its massive $570-billion portfolio in Canadian assets at the end of its last fiscal year. Other major Canadian pension plans have similar allocations, especially if you look beyond their holdings of government bonds and consider only their investments in stocks, infrastructure and real assets. When it comes to such risky assets, these big, sophisticated players often see more potential for good returns outside of Canada than at home. Canadian stocks have only a middling record over the past 10 years even when measured against other non-U.S. peers. They have trailed French and Japanese stocks. What is largely missing from the Canadian stock scene are big companies with the potential to expand and innovate around the globe. Shopify and Brookfield qualify. After that, the pickings get scarce.