The Trudeau Liberals are promising to create two new arm’s-length bodies to handle billions in federal funds to prod businesses to invest in themselves.would see $15 billion over five years put into a fund designed to alleviate risks for private companies to make it more palatable to spend on research and technology.
The fund and a sister agency to help commercialize new discoveries add to the handful of arm’s-length agencies the Liberals have created over the years, which experts say have a mixed track record.One of those agencies, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, received another change to its mandate in Thursday’s budget to allow it to invest in technologies like small modular reactors and carbon capture and storage.
Like the infrastructure bank, the Liberals say they expect to reel in $3 in private investment for every $1 in public dollars coming from the growth fund to boost investment in research and development, which has been on a long-term decline relative to GDP.Calgary’s office vacancy rate drops for first time in years
He said the government should take a sectoral approach to funding, as opposed to one that provides subsidies to firms to make sure the money makes an impact.