Evidence of meeting #25 for Public Accounts in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was investment.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
No, that's fine. The math is a little different from that, I think. So $350 million of Government of Canada money across four funds, which total $1.35 billion.... I think the calculation is really, government accounts for 25% of the total capital—
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
Approximately. Correct. Out of $1.35 billion, $555 million was invested in 17 funds.
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
So far....
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
But there are two things, I guess. One is, that is a milestone along the way because not all capital has been committed, and not all capital has been deployed.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
I'm talking about the percentage here. So, 40% of that was committed, but basically, you said you're adding additional metrics for reporting.
Does your report state how much of the government's $400 million has actually been invested in these 126 companies?
4:45 p.m.
Director General, Small Business Branch, Small Business, Tourism and Marketplace Services, Department of Industry
I don't think we separate it from our accounting responsibilities. We don't know exactly where every government dollar has gone. We look at the overall file.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
The point is that the Auditor General has made it clear that one of the key indicators is how much money is going into companies, and what is company performance at the end.
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
It's for that reason that's part of the reporting.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
But if they can't claim the investment made that has been published toward the amount of the government's investments—
4:45 p.m.
Director General, Small Business Branch, Small Business, Tourism and Marketplace Services, Department of Industry
To be clear, it's our percentage of the overall investment, just on everything. We put in the $350 million, and we raised another $35 million.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
No. Maybe I'll walk you through it.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
It's a complicated question. I'll walk you through it quickly. I'll even speak faster.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
I have one question for the BDC.
Regarding the $400 million, did you issue shares to the government for this $400 million?
Did you have a separate category of classes of shares for this?
4:45 p.m.
Executive Vice President, BDC Capital, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
We track that investment as a VCAP program, issue shares in lieu of injection of capital, and report it separately. It gets rolled up in BDC capital which gets rolled up in BDC, and we report it as a separate segment of the BDC operation.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
When you get the distribution from the investments you made, how will you transfer it back to the government?
4:45 p.m.
Executive Vice President, BDC Capital, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
We'll be tracking investment and the return of capital. The objective is to return more capital than we receive.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
I understand. When you get the returns from the investments you made, how will you transfer that to the government?
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch, Department of Finance
Typically, the BDC provides dividends.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
I know, but if this $400 million is merged into the equity capital of the BDC—
