• CTF five-year analysis of Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) program was bang-on
  
• Three successive Industry Ministers have misled Canadian taxpayers on TPC file
  
• TPC annual reports also mislead Canadian taxpayers
  
• CTF calls again for Auditor General to investigate 'corporate subsidy' program

OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has reacted to media reports that Access to Information documents reveal that only one-third a projected loan value of $6.4 billion by 2020 will ever be repaid by corporate Canada under the federal government's controversial Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) program.

Blowing the whistle since day one -
"Today's revelation confirms what we've been saying since 1996, TPC is nothing more than a dressed-up corporate welfare subsidy program and taxpayers will be stiffed for almost $4.2 billion over the next two decades," said CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "And this is a best case estimate that the government has made. Our own research indicates that only 3% of loans totaling some $1.6 billion had been repaid as of March 31, 2001 - it would take a miracle for them to reach 33%."

Ministers continue to mislead Canadians -
"Since the inception of TPC in 1996, the Industry portfolio has been occupied by three different individuals - John Manley, Brian Tobin and now Allan Rock - and each has mastered then furthered the art of ministerial obfuscation when it comes to the abysmal performance of TPC," added Robinson. "Minister Manley said our criticisms were premature, Minister Tobin called our research flawed and Minister Rock said we were just plain wrong. But unlike their partisan assertions, our numbers are factual."

TPC Annual Reports also add to the confusion -
"When TPC was first launched, government propaganda said the program would be 50% self-sustaining within 10 years. Then as of March 31st, 1999 - in their annual report - TPC brass projected that every dollar invested would yield a $1.74 in repayments over time. So how do we go from pie-in-the-sky projections to a miserly 33 cents on the dollar in three years " Robinson asked.

The AG should make this her top priority -
"Contrary to government spin, the AG's previous cursory reviews of TPC have been less than glowing. And given today's revelation it is definitely time for a comprehensive value-for-money audit of the TPC program," added Robinson. "Giving away $4 billion of taxpayers' money over the next 20 years is unconscionable. This program should be shut down immediately!"