How the Caisse's loss stacks up

The eye-popping loss reported Wednesday by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is the latest by a big Canadian pension fund, reflecting the financial markets' rough ride in 2008.

Here are the numbers from the Caisse and some other large funds:

Caisse de dépôt et placement du QuébecAssets (Dec. 31, 2008) $120.1 billionDrop in assets (from Dec. 31, 2007) $39.8 billionWeighted average return on depositors' funds –25%Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Assets (Dec. 31, 2008) $43.5 billion

Drop in assets (from Dec. 31, 2007)

$8 billion Investment return –15.3%Canada Pension Plan Fund Assets (Dec. 31, 2008) $108.9 billion Drop in assets (from Sept. 30, 2008) $8.5 billion Investment return –6.7% (Q3 only)

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, another giant investment fund, is due to release its 2008 financial report on April 2.

By way of comparison to the loses suffered by the pension funds, the S&P/TSX composite index lost about 35 per cent in 2008.