Evidence of meeting #43 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was finance.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Sarah Doyle  Senior Policy Advisor, MaRS Discovery District
Tim Jackson  EVP Corporate and Community Development, MaRS Discovery District
Stanley Hartt  Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright Canada
Ian Bird  President, Chief Executive Officer, Community Foundations of Canada

4:55 p.m.

President, Chief Executive Officer, Community Foundations of Canada

Ian Bird

I'm not familiar with the intricacies of the program you're talking about. Let me tell you about something we're doing. We're collaborating with MaRS, Deloitte, with a private foundation with roots in Vancouver, and with community foundations across Ontario to do exactly that. It's a youth catalyst fund. The whole purpose is to support social enterprise projects that focus on young people facing barriers to employment. There will be at least 12 communities in which we're engaged. Without giving the intricacies of the expertise to actually assemble it, one of the key things that has happened is the provincial government has come in to de-risk those early-stage investors. There is a role for government to play in partnership with, running alongside with, around something that is particularly challenging right now, youth unemployment.

There's a practical example of something that is under way right now, not at scale, but still in a mode where if we were to do this in more places across the country you could see social enterprises benefiting from the potential of this kind of strategy.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Mayes Conservative Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Good.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Vice-Chair Liberal Rodger Cuzner

For our witnesses, thank you so much. Mr. Bird may be onto something here. This is an interesting idea and an idea for which the time, the opportunity, to grow is here, so hopefully as a committee we can put forward a report that has some meat and support around the table.

We really appreciate the contribution made by the witnesses today.

With that, the committee is adjourned.