You can’t retire on patriotism alone.

I get it. Canadians are in a fighting mood. We’re in a trade fight with the U.S., our biggest trading partner, and the prime minister told the World Economic Forum in Davos that the world order is in the midst of a “rupture.” In a moment like this, ideas wrapped in a flag get a friendlier hearing than they deserve.

Enter the Canadian Shield Institute’s latest proposal. The policy advocacy outfit, dedicated to sovereignty issues and funded by Jim Balsillie, calls on governments to force the biggest pension funds to put 3 percent of their assets, roughly $70 billion to $90 billion, into “Canadian growth companies.”…