Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today.
I'm looking forward to discussing with you Export Development Canada's contribution to the 2023 Public Accounts of Canada, one of the government's key accountability documents. For those less familiar, Export Development Canada is a Crown corporation that operates with a mandate to support and grow the country's export trade.
Canada is a trading nation. Together, imports and exports represent 68% of the country's GDP, with exports specifically accounting for 34% of GDP. EDC supports this critical driver of our economy through a suite of financial solutions to help mitigate risks for Canadian exporters and investors, as well as through our knowledge products like webinars and digital content. Together, these offerings give Canadian companies the tools they need to reduce financial risk and the capital to enter and invest in new markets with confidence and, ultimately, grow internationally.
As the committee may be aware, EDC has been consistently financially self-sustaining throughout our 80-year history and regularly pays a dividend to the Government of Canada. We operate on financially sustainable principles, always ensuring our work complements that of private market bankers and insurers.
Our mandate and strategy are helping Canadian companies. In fact, last year, our economics team enlisted the support of Statistics Canada to help us better understand the value we provide to our customers. This seminal study found that Canadian exporters receiving EDC support generated 22% more revenue and had 15% higher employment and 5% greater employee productivity than similar exporters that were not EDC customers.
Transparency and accountability are central to our values, principles and practices at EDC. As Canada’s export credit agency, we have a responsibility to the public. We disclose information about our business in a manner that balances the information interested Canadians seek with the confidentiality required by our customers.
This extends from reporting on sustainability targets to proactive disclosures on travel and hospitality expenses to individual financing transactions, and from reporting on environmental targets to publishing our integrated annual report, which includes the financial statements the Office of the Auditor General audits each year. Beyond facilitating accountability and oversight, these practices are fundamental to building trust with Canadians, our stakeholders and our shareholder, the Government of Canada.
Our reporting to our minister includes quarterly reporting on transactions broken down by province and territory, industry, customer segment and region, among other categories. We also provide regular reporting on the Canada emergency business account, or CEBA, a pandemic program, and require the minister’s approval of our capital and operating budgets, as well as our corporate plan, which details how we plan to execute against the minister’s statement of priorities and accountabilities.
Our shareholder appoints members to EDC’s board of directors, a deeply experienced group of business professionals who oversee our direction and management and who support the achievement of our organizational objectives.
Thank you for giving me the time to share some information about EDC.
As the committee is aware, I am also here with colleagues from FinDev Canada, which is a subsidiary of EDC and of which I am the chair. They are here to answer questions related to FinDev Canada.
I look forward to your questions and comments. Thank you.