• CTF releases ATIP data which proves $147 million in TPC projects announced before final approvals were given
• CTF releases jobs estimated vs. jobs created data which raises even more repayment questions
• CTF corrects Allan Rock's misleading statements to the House over Auditor General's assessment of TPC program

TPC Approved Funding (396 KB)

TPC Job Figures (69 KB)

OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has released more data concerning the Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) program that draws into question statements Industry Minister Allan Rock has made in the House of Commons in response to the CTF audit of the TPC program released earlier this week. The CTF audit highlights TPC's dismal repayment performance, questionable operations and flawed accountability framework.

Announcements made before all approvals given -

"Three projects totaling $149 million were publicly announced before final approvals were granted, according to TPC's own records obtained through Access to Information (ATIP): this raises serious questions as to the violation of government accounting practices including the Financial Administration Act," stated CTF federal director Walter Robinson.

"Sadly Minister Rock continues to slough off this issue in question period and mislead Parliament because he knows his department is in serious trouble. The ATIP request specifically asked when each investment received final approval from the responsible government official(s)," added Robinson. "It is clear that something is terribly wrong. This now raises Enron-type questions of whether announcements were made to jack up stock prices or if they were made for other political purposes."

Jobs estimated vs. Jobs created: Numbers are not credible -

"Today we have also released an analysis of jobs estimated in TPC news releases vs. TPC's internal estimates of actual job estimates which shows that TPC is supposedly 5,000 jobs ahead of where they predicted they would be," added Robinson. "So this raises another troubling question: If job creation is supposedly ahead of pace, then why has Ottawa recouped less than 3 per cent in repayments on a $947 million loan portfolio Clearly these numbers cannot be credible which only points to further evidence of deception and obfuscation by TPC officials."

What the Auditor General actually said -

"The Industry Minister continues to assert that the Auditor General (AG) gave TPC a clean bill of health when in fact a full reading of Chapter 19 of the AG's 1999 report dealing with TPC is much less enthusiastic," said Robinson.

Extracts from the AG's Report-

19.109 -- Project and results monitoring could be improved. We expected that TPC would monitor the progress of funded projects and ensure that the applicant is meeting all its obligations under the funding agreement.

19.110 -- - TPC does not yet systematically monitor project results. For example, recipients are required to send semi-annual and annual reports. Those reports are supposed to contain information on progress and the project's contribution to jobs and economic growth. TPC does not ensure that all the reports are received on time and there is little information on actual jobs created. Although we found audited financial statements on file, there was no evidence that such information was reviewed on an ongoing basis to help assess the continued viability of the companies or the projects.

19.115 -- However, we found that reports do not explain how management interprets these aspects of TPC's mandate. In particular, there is no explanation of the basis for an extent of sharing risks and rewards with firms.

19.117 -- Nevertheless, in our view, proper reporting to Parliament requires that TPC explain how it interprets and acts on key parts of its mandate. In particular, the meaning of "taking an investment approach through sharing in risks and returns" and the extent to which contributions are "fully repayable" need to be better explained in any report to Parliament.

"It is a shame that the Industry Minister has chosen to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors Ministers Tobin and Manley in defending the indefensible," concluded Robinson. "TPC is the government's pre-eminent corporate welfare program which should be shut down. If only we had leaders of courage to do the right thing instead of weaving their tangled webs."

Notes: Attached to this release editors will find the a TPC ATIP chart revealing final approval dates for Bombardier, Ballard and CAE along with TPC news releases showing their premature announcements. In addition, the CTF analysis of estimated jobs vs actual ATIP jobs is also attached to this news release.