July 21, 2006: TPC, BDC and EDC

Advice to Ottawa on TPC -- Kill it: Tech program an 'unmitigated disaster' Financial Post, July 20, 2006
www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.ht
ml?id=1b41342f-ba97-400b-87a9-e3dcfda9888e

[....] The program, which is currently under review, has been an unmitigated disaster since it was launched a decade ago. Of the $2.15-billion doled out to companies -- some of them publicly traded -- to conduct research and development, only $156-million has been repaid. Can you imagine running a business that way?

Last week, the TPC's practices were called into question by a federal government-commissioned audit in which 16 of 46 companies examined were found to have breached TPC rules by hiring lobbyists to help them secure financing. [....]

... the Business Development Bank of Canada, ... [Remember Mr. Beaudoin, the whistleblower.]

[....] And what about Export Development Canada, which provides financing for companies that export goods, as well as offering cash and credit to foreign companies buying Canadian products? Nortel Networks Corp. and Bombardier Inc. have been happy to suck at the teat of the EDC for years. [....]