How Tens of Millions of Canadians Own Shares in Tesla

Canada Pension Plan Owns Sizeable Stake in Tesla

Despite Elon Musks dismissal of Canada as not a real country, millions of Canadians unknowingly own Tesla shares through pensions.

Canadians aren't the biggest fans of Elon Musk and Tesla right now.

Elon Musk was a key backer of President Donald Trump's successful re-election campaign, donating hundreds of millions of dollars and his time to make sure that President Trump defeated Kamala Harris.

Musk has gone on to head efforts to cut "wasteful" federal government spending.

President Trump has not been shy about his desire for Canada to become the "51st state". Trump has said that Canadians should embrace the idea, as their taxes would drop and they would be protected by the United States.

Most Canadians were not happy with this talk, and Trump's "51st state" idea has not been received well in Canada. Elon Musk, who is seen as Trump's right-hand man, has taken a great deal of criticism from the Canadian public, and there has been a movement in Canada to protest both Musk and Tesla.

A petition was circulated to revoke Musk's Canadian citizenship, to which he responded - "Canada is not a real country".

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Many Canadians unknowingly have exposure to Tesla in their investment portfolios. If you own a S&P 500 tracking stock like SPY, you have exposure to Tesla.

Many Canadian mutual and pension funds also directly own shares in Tesla.

Canadians exposure to Tesla goes even deeper than that, as the Canada Pension Plan owns a sizeable stake in Tesla.

16.4 million Canadians are estimated to contribute to the CPP (Canada Pension Plan) program in 2025, which means that all of these Canadians, plus anybody else who has contributed to the program in the past and is collecting payments, can claim ownership of Tesla.

Every quarter, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board must publicly disclose their holdings.

As of December 31st, 2024, the Canada Pension Plan reported that they owned 2.2 million shares of Tesla for a total value of $898 million, making it one of the top 25 largest holdings in the fund.

This means that tens of millions of Canadians can claim to own a small part of Tesla, despite the fact that Elon Musk doesn't think that Canada is a "real country".

Filed under: General Knowledge