Industry Minister Launches Effort to Achieve Unprecedented Transparency of Technology Partnerships Canada Program

OTTAWA, March 24, 2006 — The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, today, for the first time, released a comprehensive package of information regarding the Technology Partnerships Canada program (TPC).

"Our government has accountability and transparency at the top of its agenda, and I am bringing this same focus to activities related to TPC," said Minister Bernier. "When it came to my attention that the TPC program has been a source of controversy in the past year, I made it clear to my Department that I wanted to get to the bottom of the audit issues."

Specifically, Minister Bernier released an updated report on the status of ongoing audit activity into company compliance with the terms of their TPC contribution agreements, and a report on repayments of TPC investments received by Industry Canada to date.

"Boosting Canada's competitiveness and prosperity is a top priority for this government, but starting now, this government believes that our partnerships with the private sector should be managed in a fully transparent and accountable manner. Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being used," stated Minister Bernier.

"Our government is aware of the major economic importance of the research, development, and commercialization activities undertaken by Canadian firms," said Minister Bernier. "To that end, my Cabinet colleagues and I will be discussing options for how the federal government can best play a role in ensuring that our companies are positioned to continue to bring new technologies, products and processes to market."

In accordance with this unprecedented transparency effort, the Minister of Industry also made public four TPC investments that were approved in 2005. These include an investment with CAE Inc. of Montréal, Quebec, two investments with Messier Dowty Inc. of Ajax, Ontario, and an investment with D-Wave Systems Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Details on these announcements, as well as the Status Report on Company Compliance and the Report on Repayments to TPC are available at: http://www.tpc-ptc.ic.gc.ca/.

For more information, please contact:

Isabelle Fontaine
Office of the Honourable Maxime Bernier
Minister of Industry
(613) 995-9001

Media Relations
Industry Canada
(613) 943-2502