CVCA letters to Messers Flaherty, Clement and Ignatief

As you’ve become increasingly aware, Canada is suffering from a crisis regarding the lack of start-up and venture capital (see prior post “Solving the Start-up & VC malaise part 2” February 6-08). The first public phase of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association’s efforts took place during the 2007 Ontario Provincial election (see prior post “Ontario politicians asked to address deteriorating VC climate” October 1-07). The second was during the recent federal election (see prior post “CVCA injects some fresh ideas into the federal elecion campaign” October 6-08).

More recently, the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association has been busy working with various levels of government in an effort to give them some ideas prior to their upcoming budget cycles. Now that the “Old Economy” is potentially slipping away, irreprably, the case for supporting the Innovation Economy is all the more compelling.

Here are three letters that the CVCA recently sent to three of the key people in Ottawa regarding this issue:

Letter to Finance Minister Flaherty

Letter to Industry Minister Clement

Letter to Interim Opposition Leader Ignatief

We’ve got plenty of ideas. Hopefully our provincial and federal officials won’t draft solutions without any input from the industries they are trying to save. With 600,000 workers in the information technology and telecommunications industry, and perhaps another 400,000 in the lifescience, biotech, alternative energy and clean tech sectors, a huge part of the Canadian economy is at risk if the multi-year swoon in start-up and venture capital funding isn’t arrested at once.

MRM
(disclosure – I am on the Board of the CVCA)