Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning to all of the members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
The Fonds de solidarité FTQ is very pleased to participate in the pre-budget consultation launched in advance of the 2018 budget.
The Fonds is thrilled that the questions proposed by the committee are very much aligned with the Fonds' mission. Indeed, the economic growth of businesses and communities is at the very heart of our organization's priorities. Furthermore, the Fonds' mission espouses the model of inclusive growth, a concept that your government has also put forward.
The Government of Canada has committed to investing in inclusive growth that seeks to strengthen the middle class and stimulate growth to enable the Canadian economy to prosper in a sustainable fashion. We share that wish and want to contribute to the realization of that government priority.
Since its establishment in 1983, the Fonds has embraced the concept that large institutions describe as inclusive growth, first by making it easier for Quebec's middle class to save, even with more modest income, thanks to tax credits offered by both levels of government, but more importantly, by channelling those savings from the middle class toward businesses. These savings provide patient capital to businesses, which is hard to come by these days, to support their growth and enable them to provide quality jobs.
Thanks to the return of the funds from the federal tax credit to our shareholders in 2016, the Fonds played a leadership role in promoting inclusive growth. Several aspects of our organization's strategic planning have a positive effect on businesses and communities.
Firstly, the Fonds stimulates economic growth and job creation. With net assets of $13.2 billion, the Fonds is present in all sectors of economic activity in Quebec, and all phases of companies' development. Our network finances more than 2,700 partner companies and helps to create, maintain or protect more than half a million jobs.
Over the past ten years, the Fonds directly invested close to $6 billion in companies and specialized private funds. A recent KPMG study concluded that while the Fonds' investments were mainly aimed at supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises located in Quebec, the activities of these enterprises also stimulate the rest of the Canadian economy. The impact on the economic fabric outside Quebec is substantial, representing an additional 16% over the value of the impact measured in Quebec alone.
In addition, through its presence in all regions of Quebec, the Fonds has the desire and the capacity to stimulate local and regional economies. The same KPMG study showed that the Fonds' partner companies are proportionally more present in less economically favoured regions, and that they help increase the employment rate and reduce income gaps in the regions. In a territory like Quebec, it is not reasonable to pit regions against each other; prosperity should encompass the development of all territories and foster the well-being of everyone, everywhere. In deploying its network of experts supporting regional and local economies across Quebec, the Fonds is attempting to meet that challenge.
Our organization also wishes to strengthen the middle class and stimulate growth by encouraging savings, by providing communities with socioeconomically structuring infrastructure, and finally, by tackling the employability challenge. We discuss the other aspects of our strategic planning in our brief.
In short, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ is already taking concrete action to promote the growth of a robust middle class. These measures are generating and will generate benefits for communities.
These consultations are normally used to make demands on your committee. However, the Fonds would rather use this platform to demonstrate its ability and willingness to play a role in addressing the issues that that have been identified as priorities in inclusive growth. We can and we want to work with your government to help meet its objectives in terms of retirement savings, tax reductions for the middle class, job creation, innovation and economic development.
Thank you for your attention.
We will be pleased to answer your questions.