Thank you, Marta.
Mr. Chair, and committee members, I'm here today to provide you with a bit of the detail around the supplementary estimates, as Marta has indicated.
First, if I may, let me start with a little bit of background.
As you may know, supplementary estimates are the vehicle to seek authorities for items that could not make it into the main estimates due to the timing of their approval, such as budget commitments. They also serve to provide information on changes in forecasted statutory spending during the fiscal year and finally to transfer funds between appropriations or departments when cost-sharing initiatives have been agreed to. Industry Canada has items that fall into each of the three categories.
As Marta mentioned, our supplementary estimates show an increase of $101.6 million, the majority of which is to deliver on budget commitments. This will bring the department's total authorities to a little less than $1.3 billion, which is a 15% reduction from last year's authorities of $1.5 billion. Approximately two-thirds of this amount goes to grants and contributions to support key industries and regions. The remainder goes to the department's operating and capital budgets.
Now let me walk you through some of the more important items. You will find them on pages 2-54 and 2-55 in the English document and pages 2-70 and 2-71 in the French document.
First, you'll see $25.7 million requested to finalize the Bombardier CSeries R and D project this year. It is important to note that this is not new money. The funding had been slated for next year, but Bombardier will complete the project this month, and this is to reimburse them for eligible costs that they have incurred as per the original contribution agreement. Next year's main estimates will be reduced by a corresponding amount.
There is $24.5 million requested for the reinvestment of receipts from repayable contributions. An important aspect of Industry Canada's funding model is that it relies in part on royalty repayments from legacy contribution programs that were collected in the previous year. This funding is accessed on an annual basis through the supplementary estimates, and that is what we are doing here.
For the automotive innovation fund $11.9 million is requested, following the announcement in January 2013 to renew the program for another five years at $250 million. The funding you see here is strictly to fund agreements that have already been reached. It is the first request in that overall envelope.
There is $10 million requested in support of the government's youth employment strategy. Industry Canada's role in that strategy is to support approximately 1,300 youth internships per year in community access sites, allowing young Canadians to develop the vital skills and work experience needed to make a successful transition to the workplace.
There is $8.5 million requested to support operational requirements, because of a decline in the repayments to which I referred a minute ago. Industry Canada can access up to $33 million in such repayments. Last year, $24.5 million was collected, and the department had been authorized to seek funding for the shortfall whenever repayments were below that threshold. We are doing that here now.
Marta mentioned Mitacs. Six million dollars is requested to attract highly skilled students to Canada and to provide Canadian students with international R and D experience abroad. This support was announced in budget 2013.
There is $3.5 million requested for the technical work experience program, which offers students and recent graduates in information technology programs professional experience in refurbishing computers. This initiative is also in support of the government's youth employment strategy.
There is $2.1 million from royalties from intellectual property. Half of this amount is from a computerized circuitry system owned by Industry Canada that allows individuals and companies to compare a proposed corporate name or trademark with a database of existing corporate bodies and trademarks. The department is permitted to reinvest those revenues in that program. The other half comes from the Communications Research Centre Canada, which licenses intellectual property as a result of the research done by its scientists.
As I mentioned, supplementary estimates are also used to provide information on changes in statutory appropriations, so you see an item here for $9 million for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. Statutory items are for information only. They are not voted upon, but they appear here.
And finally, Supplementary Estimates is also the mechanism through which departments can transfer funds between votes and between departments on cost-shared initiatives. You will see a handful of them adding up to a net total of $594,000.
That concludes my presentation. I hope that sheds some light on the supplementary estimates that you have before you.
We'd be happy to answer any of your questions.
