Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

In perhaps the first real crack in the edifice of Canadian finance during this crisis, today's Globe and Mail reports that the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada's largest public pension fund manager, reported a loss for 2008 of almost $40 billion cdn. or -25% (against an average of -18% for Canadian pension funds).

As important as the losses themselves is where they came from -- asset backed commercial paper and currency hedging. And these in turn were the result of inadequate risk management practices.

So at least one Canadian financial institution has followed the well worn path of their American cousins.

Stay tuned.