Mr. Chair, a few years ago, we introduced a type of funding called seed funding, which was about $100,000 per business. That's much less than the usual funding provided to start-ups. Management set up a specific process, which the board of directors approved. A jury had to approve each project on behalf of the project review committee. The jury was made up of people from across Canada, including management representatives, outside experts and, at times, a member of the board of directors. We approved 10, 15 or 20 projects at a time for $100,000 in seed funding. At the board meeting, all the projects were tabled and, knowing that due diligence had been done, the board approved the funding amount. This is common practice in other financial institutions, including federal ones.
On September 23rd, 2024. See this statement in context.