Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Gupta, I'm going to continue on the same topic of venture capital.
We are talking about $400 million. You are quite fortunate in that regard, since there are problems with venture capital in Canada, including in Ontario. However, the two workers' funds in Quebec, the Fondaction and the Fonds de solidarité, submitted a proposal to the Minister of Finance to attempt to convince him not to eliminate the tax credit for contributors. Indeed, venture capital derived from the general public is really rare.
The two workers' funds proposed that the number of shares issued be restricted so as to limit tax expenditures. In addition, $550 million would be invested in private funds in Quebec, and it would be possible to invest everywhere in Canada. In that way, $400 million from these two funds would be invested in private funds outside Quebec, including $120 million in the two national funds included in the Venture Capital Action Plan. Moreover, a sum of $1.05 billion would be invested directly in businesses, in addition to the money from those funds, over the 10 years of the federal action plan.
The Minister of Finance rejected the proposal. Canadian venture capital—we are about talking about Quebec, but also about other areas outside of Quebec as well—lost $200 million a year in investments. That represents $2 billion over a 10-year period.
Would you not have preferred to benefit from these $2 billion, rather than the $400 million proposed by the federal government?