Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, committee members, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss using private and institutional financing as part of the strategy to improve social outcomes and strengthen communities across Canada. I have served as vice-

Public Safety committee  It is. It's in the downtown eastside of Vancouver.

Public Safety committee  No, it is not. They are looking to expand their program, financed through a social impact bond structure.

Public Safety committee  Again, my speciality is finance and real estate finance around social impact, around affordable housing, and social purpose real estate. That said, I'll have an opinion on this kind of intervention into indigenous communities. The challenges around that population have been so p

Public Safety committee  Yes, but I would agree with James that it's likely to be philanthropic capital, foundation funds.

Public Safety committee  I would say fundamental to that is allowing the community providers who work in this sector the latitude to build their balance sheet and create the capital that will allow them, to use James's terms, the managerial approach, but will allow them to be comfortable managing capital

Public Safety committee  Yes. There is actually some paper being done for the G-8 meeting that I'd be happy to forward to you. It has a summary. The two issues that are most obvious are, one, it's not clear that foundations can invest in limited partnerships, and many foundations that are the first act

Public Safety committee  There's always a concern that in innovation you have a retreat away from critical government services. In the case of prisons, I don't see it as being as big a risk.

Public Safety committee  Because there is going to be a return. It's actually a market that they don't understand. When you talk about higher risk, I would caution that frequently things are viewed as higher risk simply because the market is not understood and because the risks are not understood. Ag

Public Safety committee  Again, I don't know enough about criminal justice to venture an opinion on that.

Public Safety committee  It hasn't been my experience. TD Bank was our biggest investor in Vermont. They had over $75 million invested with Housing Vermont. My experience is that private financial institutions and private corporations, given the opportunity, are looking for ways to move into this kind

Public Safety committee  Yes, whether it's enhanced reputation or honest engagement with their community. Again, these financial institutions, whether we say it or not.... I hate the term “social licence”, but they have a guarantee from the federal government for the depositors. That's a big subsidy. Peo

Public Safety committee  Yes, I think that in this kind of early action you're going to have to figure out how to de-risk it enough to attract investors. Whether it's as Mr. Tansey says or another mechanism, there are various ways to reduce the risk, at least for first actors.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely.

Public Safety committee  Yes, broadly speaking, I think absolutely there is plenty of opportunity for improvement. As a taxpayer in Canada, I would appreciate a greater level of success and better outcomes, and would welcome that kind of approach.