Public Accounts committee  I'll take a run at it, but maybe my colleagues will chime in as well. Private sector investors would have the same interest as the Government of Canada in monitoring their investment. They would certainly be watching the progress of the investment and its performance. That does

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  If I'm not mistaken, I think the report from the Auditor General was highlighting that, as the initiative moved forward and as money was put out into the economy, there should be better reporting to Canadians on results and how the money was being deployed. I think it was on a go

Public Accounts committee  I'm a little curious about the notion of an exit strategy, because the Government of Canada is active in the venture capital space through its financial crown corporations, each one of them. Export Development Canada, Business Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada, they are all

Public Accounts committee  But I'm curious as to why it's an objective for the $350-million investment in the funds of funds to be withdrawn before the investment is actually made and the returns are received. I'm not certain why that would be an objective.

Public Accounts committee  It will vary, but it's 12 years on average.

Public Accounts committee  Oh, absolutely. It gets deployed in companies. Companies grow, they pay back their investors, and as an investor the government gets a return. That's just a bit of context, I guess, from my perspective.

Public Accounts committee  I'll turn that over to my colleague from Innovation, Science and Economic Development, because their ongoing role is to develop that kind of framework, to report on it, and to make that information public. Just with regard to the exit strategy, the investment made into the funds

Public Accounts committee  There are two things. With the difficulty that was referenced to get participation, I believe, and I can be corrected by the Auditor General and his office, that is in reference to investors. I think what you are referring to is the selection of fund managers. That's just one of

Public Accounts committee  I think the criticism of the process is in relation to the selection of fund managers rather than.... The investors are a separate issue.

Public Accounts committee  With the selection of the fund managers, the rationale for including that was twofold. This was a process that we were developing, in part, as we went. There were significant uncertainties with the reactions of investors. We were trying to make this a process that would meet a

Public Accounts committee  It's treated as an investment.

Public Accounts committee  In balance sheet terms.

Public Accounts committee  Maybe I'll start and then turn it over since you focused the question on Finance Canada. We have not done any analysis specific to this $400 million. We haven't done that analysis, but there is one clarification, I think, that's required to understand your question better, and t

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Since you've already introduced my colleagues, I won't do that. We certainly represent a team that worked on both the analytical aspects as well as the development, implementation, and ongoing management of the venture capital action plan initiative, or as