When a Former Finance Minister Says the Tool Already Exists, We Should Pay Attention
John Manley doesn’t think Canada needs to start from scratch.
Neither do I.
In a C.D. Howe Institute Intelligence Memo, the former federal Finance and Industry Minister argues that Canada’s Flow-Through Share model should be extended to technology.
His argument goes straight to the problem we’re trying to solve.
Early-stage companies need risk capital.
Canada already has a mechanism that changes the investor’s risk/reward equation.
And we’ve already demonstrated, through mining, that the mechanism can attract significant amounts of private investment.
Manley points to Britain as another piece of the story. The UK adapted the investor-incentive concept through its EIS and SEIS programs and has used those programs to channel billions of pounds into young companies.
His conclusion is hard to ignore:
Canada helped create the idea.
Other countries adapted it.
Now Canada has an opportunity to apply it to the strategic technologies shaping the next economy.
AI.
Quantum.
Biotechnology.
Advanced manufacturing.
That is exactly what FTS-Tech proposes.
Not another bureaucracy choosing companies.
Not government replacing investors.
Government sets the rules. Private investors make the decisions.
The question isn’t whether Canada understands Flow-Through Shares.
We do.
The question is whether we’re prepared to use what we already know.
Read John Manley’s C.D. Howe Institute memo
Read the FTS-Tech proposal and Add Your Voice
Canada invented the model. Let’s use it.
