Jan. 1, 2007: Happy New Year

Update Jan. 2, 2007 - two updates below. One link changes no matter what I do and I do not know why.




Bumped up from Dec. 31, 2006

Happy New Year to all

The following is dedicated especially to those who try to protect the taxpayers of Canada, perhaps in the background.


Connecting the dots

Caveat: It is difficult to read what is in the following tables because they are small, but Blogger is limited for displaying table information. Check the websites in question. Note that below the tables is more information. It is possible to save and to enlarge the tables.

MS Paint will allow anyone to enlarge and look at the tables.
* Open MS / Microsoft Paint.
* Simply save a table to your computer and open in Paint.
* If necessary, make a screen capture (key "Print Screen" along the top of your keyboard); open Paint, use Edit/Paste or Ctrl-V which pastes the screen capture into Paint. Save the file as a jpg or jpeg.
Using the same file in Paint:
* In Paint, open Image/Stretch-Skew from the menu at the top.
* The first two spaces are for horizontal and vertical percentages. Change both percentages the same amount, for example, change 100% to 110% or 120% for BOTH.
* If it is large enough to read, save the result as "Name-view 2".





Scope of what follows

Re: Export Development Corporation , Canada Account , Funding , CIDA, Foundations , Export Development Bank , Grants , Concessional Loans [as opposed to other loans] , Concentration of Exposure [Canadian Financial] , Aging of Loans Receivable , Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) , Past Due Receivables , Forgiveness? Restructuring? Write-off? , Paris Club , UN Millennium Goals , EDC administrative charges , paid EDC to administer the Canada Account , DFAIT - Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade , split in 2003 , Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) , administrative separation , Export Credit Agency , Export Development Canada (EDC) , Crown corporation , state-controlled , Compagnie française d'assurance pour le commerce extérieur (COFACE) , Northstar Trade Finance , Government-owned corporations , Industry Canada , NORTHSTAR Trade Finance Inc. , Western Economic Diversification , provincial government of British Columbia , BMO Bank of Montreal , Royal Bank of Canada , HSBC Bank Canada , National Bank of Canada , Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec , Canadian Trade Mission to Brazil , Scott Shepherd , exportsource.ca , Export Development Bank Corporation , Pender Financial Group , Kelly Edmison , trade commissioner and as an officer of the Export Development Corporation , Chemetics , Imperial Chemicals Inc. , 1994 , chartered banks

Continued:








Continued:




Source: EDC Disclosure - Canada Account Annual Report 2003 - 2004





Digression: Funding Bombardier

Recent subsidies cannot be totalled totally as EDC amounts are not subject to public scrutiny.

"It seems Bombardier has been subsidized, in recent times." and further down that webpage, "over 90% of their rail manufacturing is done in foreign countries"

www.taxpayer.com/main/news.php?news_id=1863

Check further; I ran out of time. From CNEWS forum here , posted by bobjane

End of Digression

Glossary - only some terms germane to what is below - There are more.

Concentration of Financial Exposure - Note "Grants"

Concessional Loans - low or interest free - may be combined with Grants - Canadian financial exposure








Related to Concentration of Exposure




Financial Statements

Note that this ties in to Notes 3, 4, 5 - with more information (below).





EDC Mandate and Authority

As mentioned below, when government responds to "international business opportunities", who are the beneficiaries?

Note: Bombardier, China, along with various banks in China, and there is mention of a few other businesses. Undoubtedly, if you search, there are more businesses of interest; at least, that has been my experience.







Aging of Loans Receivable

Note the amounts by 2011 - 2012. As an amateur looking at these, this struck me as significant to a government going into an election, as perhaps putting off the inevitable ... or would there be a write-off later? Maybe it is completely normal in business, but the average person in debt, long term, is only in debt in relation to buying a house, a house and vehicle, or perhaps for farm equipment so they may continue working or surviving, that is, for a farm family not involved in a corporate-sized farm business.





Past Due Receivables

Forgiveness? Restructuring? Write-off? Normal high finance?

What is the Paris Club and why is it significant to Canada? Forgiveness of Debt? Connected to the UN Millennium Goals? More research needed. Perhaps a great job for New Years Day.



There is mention of HIPC or HIPC's

Search: HIPC

Is it Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)?
I assume it is not to be confused with Health Information Privacy Committee (HIPC) in Canada. Of course, it could be an in joke.



Is this Debt Forgiveness, eventually?









Note 6 concerns EDC administrative charges (See below for more)




According to the above, at that time, Canadian taxpayers through the government of the day, paid EDC to administer the Canada Account. EDC was paid through Administrative Charges. What, if any, is the relationship of the EDC or Export Development Corporation to the Export Development Bank?

Search further: Export Development Corporation , Export Development Bank (Its name may have changed since; I think I read that somewhere. Try Business Export Development Bank )


Readers might want to check further whether these, mentioned in the report above, are significant:

Statement of Cash Flow to/from the Consolidated Revenue Fund - interesting figures
Paris Club
Aging Distribution - Amounts rise precipitously. Is that significant or only significant to the hoi polloi who do not normally deal with such vast quantities?
OECD Arrangement on Guidelines for Officially Supported Export Credits
Sovereign Loans
Political Risk Insurance
LIBOR - London Interbank Offer Rate -- The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend to first class banks


The above tables are from EDC Disclosure Canada Account Annual Report 2003 - 2004 -- or here -- or here

www.edc.ca/english/docs/2003-2004_CanAcctRep_e.pdf

www.edc.ca/english/disclosure_9239.htm


I checked further:

DFAIT - Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a brief history.

Which Ministry has been responsible for the Canada Account? While it falls under DFAIT, that department was split in 2003, then rejoined under PM Harper. There is a senior Min. of Foreign Affairs with overall responsibility (MacKay), a Min. of International Trade (Emerson) and a Min. of International Cooperation (Verner), responsible for certain delegated foreign policy matters including Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

[....] A separate Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of International Trade were created in December 2003 through an administrative separation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

However, on February 15, 2005 legislation to formally abolish the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and provide a statutory basis for a separate Department of Foreign Affairs and a Department of International Trade failed to pass a first vote in the Canadian House of Commons. However, the government maintained the administrative separation of the two departments despite neither having been established through an Act of Parliament. [....]

Export Credit Agency

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_credit_agency

Export Development Canada (EDC)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_Development_Canada

Export Development Canada (EDC) is Canada's Export Credit Agency and a Crown corporation that offers assistance and services (such as loans and insurance) to Canadian exporters who wish to export goods or services.
Since 2005, EDC has maintained a partnership with Compagnie française d'assurance pour le commerce extérieur (COFACE) [this link keeps changing] for the provision of domestic accounts receivable insurance to Canadian businesses, since EDC is not permitted to do so under its mandate. Similarly, EDC has partnered with Northstar Trade Finance [actually leads to an old Industry Canada webpage. See below.] to provide administrative support for Northstar financing transactions to foreign buyers of Canadian goods and services.

There is more:

Update Jan. 2, 2007: The link for this has mysteriously changed again to this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnie_fran%C3%A7aise_d. This is incorrect and would not work when I tried it. I do not know why it changes. My latest screen capture of it:



Check further on Wikipedia, try the full link below, or check elsewhere for information:

Compagnie française d'assurance pour le commerce extérieur (COFACE) is the main French export credit agency.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compagnie_fran%C3%A7aise_d%
27assurance_pour_le_commerce_ext%C3%A9rieur [Place on one line-a good link Jan. 2, 07]

COFACE North America official website
www.coface-usa.com/

COFACE official website
www.coface.fr/


Crown corporation - There are links within this item - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_corporation

In the Commonwealth Realms, a Crown corporation is a state-controlled company or enterprise. This article mainly deals with Canadian Crown corporations since the term is most widely used in Canada. Equivalent names in other jurisdictions include Government trading enterprises, Government-owned corporations and State-owned enterprises.

Note: In Canada, there has been a lack of transparency in accountability in relation to Crown Corporations. That might repay more checking.

I checked Wikipedia for more on Northstar Trade Financial and could find almost nothing. A Google search was somewhat more productive.

Northstar Trade Finance - information in Spanish, French and English. Nota Bene: This may be an older version of this page from the Industry Canada website; there may or may not have been changes in the last year.

strategis.ic.gc.ca/ccc/search/navigate.do?language=
eng&portal=1&subPortal=&estblmntNo=
123456203464&profile=completeProfile

NORTHSTAR Trade Finance Inc. was created to support Canadian exporters by offering financing to credit worthy buyers of eligible Canadian goods and services.

NORTHSTAR Trade Finance Inc. brings together the export strengths of the government of Canada through Export Development Canada (EDC) and Western Economic Diversification, the provincial government of British Columbia, and the private sector through BMO Bank of Montreal, the Royal Bank of Canada, HSBC Bank Canada, National Bank of Canada, and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Northstar shareholders are the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, HSBC Bank Canada, CDP Capital International and the Government of British Columbia. The Government of Ontario provided initial capital, and the Government of Canada provides support through the Export Development Canada (EDC), the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).

Industry Canada: one address given: Northstar Trade Finance

833-595 Berrard St
VANCOUVER, British Columbia
V7X1C4
Telephone: (604) 6645828 Fax: (604) 6645838 Website URL: http:// www.northstar.ca [Remove the spaces.]

Perhaps fittingly entitled "disambiguation"

Northstar Trade Finance, a Canadian company offering financing to buyers of Canadian goods and services.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North
star_%28disambiguation%29


Photos from the Canadian Trade Mission to Brazil

Canada Trade Mission to Brazil Nov. 2004 includes photos, Note: webpage last updated 2005-02-08, just after the last federal election

www.tcm-mec.gc.ca/brazil/mission-en.asp

Jim Peterson, International Trade Minister and Jean-Paul Ruszkowski, Northstar Trade Finance Inc.

[....] Scott Shepherd, Northstar Trade Finance Inc. [more below]

Export Development Bank Corporation - exportsource.ca

exportsource.ca -- or here - many links to more information. What date? Is the information still valid?

exportsource.ca/gol/exportsource
/site.nsf/en/es01895.html

Northstar Trade Finance Inc. -- or here

www.wd.gc.ca/export/traderes_e.asp


Pender Financial Group - Team -- or here. Also, check Pender Financial Group Corporate.

www.penderfinancial.com/team/

www.penderfinancial.com/corporate/

Kelly Edmison - President & Chief Executive Officer

Pender Financial's management team has significant experience in the area of strategic business development, corporate finance, capital raising, and corporate governance, enabling it to add true value to portfolio companies as part of its hands-on investment management philosophy.

Kelly Edmison is the President and CEO of Pender Financial. Mr. Edmison is supported by an experienced group of professionals in the areas of finance, technology assessment, corporate governance and portfolio administration

[.... Much high powered talent here, it appears. Scroll to the bottom ....]

Scott Shepherd - Director [...email address]

Scott Shepherd has been active in financial markets for two decades. A graduate of University of Toronto and Dalhousie Business School, Mr. Shepherd spent his early career with the Canadian Federal Government as a trade commissioner and as an officer of the Export Development Corporation. Mr. Shepherd then spent a number of years as treasurer of Chemetics, a subsidiary of Imperial Chemicals Inc.

In 1994, Mr. Shepherd founded Northstar Trade Finance Corporation ("Northstar"), where he continues today as its chief executive officer. Northstar provides assistance to Canadian companies in financing exports. Northstar operates in partnership with the Export Development Corporation and four of Canada's chartered banks. Northstar has over $100 million in assets.

Check the rest of the members of the team.

Again, Happy New Year.


Update & Related: I remember mention of the Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank somewhere in all the above, which would make the following relevant, re: Paul Martin.

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Dec. 24 - 30, 2006

Search:
Dec. 27, 2006: CIDA: Grants, Contracts, Contributions



Frost Hits the Rhubarb Dec. 21, 2006: Here we go around the mulberry bush ... again



frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12/
dec-21-2006-here-we-go-around-mulberry.htm
l
Africa: Screen capture & Update: UN CA Connections CITIC Paul Martin Power Corp. Volker ... and Oil

Assume ... after each. Search:

African Development Bank

Former prime minister Paul Martin has been named co-chair of a high-profile panel that will advise the African Development Bank Group on its strategic vision. [....]

Paul Martin's spring 2005 budget

Note how often Africa is mentioned in that budget. Also, in the following, check the history of the African Development Bank and note mention of AIDS / HIV.

[....]

Some of the following appear to be about media but they include banking information, complex networks, global media empires, financing ... The more I read, the more it seems to be all connected in some way.


Related re: Media, Power and Pargesa, and Canadian banks, TD, for example.

Dec. 17, 2006: CBC & Friends and Dec. 17, 2006: Media ... litany