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Media Contacts

Lindsay Byers

Press Secretary
Deputy Communications Director
Office of the Premier
lindsay.byers@gov.bc.ca

Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation

johann.chang@gov.bc.ca
604 313-0638

Backgrounders

InBC Investment Corp. overview

InBC was created on Sept. 17, 2020, by renaming an existing Crown corporation, the BC Immigrant Investment Fund (BCIIF). The BCIIF was created in 2001 to receive funds from the federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) that were used to make low-interest loans to B.C. infrastructure projects, such as schools and hospitals.

In 2014, the federal government ended the IIP. As a result, the BCIIF is no longer offering new infrastructure loans. These loans continue to be repaid.

Once the InBC Investment Corp. Act receives royal assent, InBC will continue as a statutory Crown corporation and its Business Corporations Act structure will cease to exist.

Investments will:

  • be flexible. For example, they could be equity, preferred shares, convertible notes and other forms of financing.
  • be a patient, long-term source of capital for B.C. companies.
  • be guided by the BC Economic Plan: A Framework for Improving British Columbians’ Standard of Living and the CleanBC plan.
  • create quality economic growth in B.C., which will generate steady increases in wages, increases in government revenue and will share the benefits throughout the province.

Independence and board of directors:

  • As a statutory Crown corporation, InBC Investment Corp. will operate at arm’s length from government.
  • InBC will develop an investment policy statement. When developed, this will be publicly available on its website.
  • InBC’s chief investment officer will have sole authority over the fund’s investment decisions. This model is consistent with other public sector investment funds, such as the BC Investment Management Corporation and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.
  • The chief investment officer’s investment decisions will be informed by the objectives of the investment policy statement. They will not and cannot be influenced by government, cabinet ministers, the CEO, the board of directors or any other outside party.
  • InBC will be overseen by a nine-member board of directors, made up of both public and private sector members who, once the legislation is in place, will be appointed by cabinet.
  • Two senior B.C. public servants will sit on the board. These positions will be filled by the deputy minister of jobs, economic recovery, and innovation, and the deputy minister of finance, which are the two ministries responsible for InBC.
  • The remaining seven board members will come from the private sector and will be announced in a short time.
  • The board will be responsible for overseeing the management of the corporation. Also, it will be empowered, if it chooses to do so, to set up a 12-member advisory forum to provide it with non-binding advice and potentially sit on board committees.

Transparency:

  • InBC is subject to all the accountability and regulatory requirements of Crown corporations in B.C.
  • InBC will submit annual reports as required by the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act.
  • The performance of InBC’s investments will be made publicly available through the annual reports, audited financial statement, and an external review conducted every five years by an independent party. The legislation requires that these annual and external reviews will also be tabled by the legislative assembly and made available to the public.

Funding:

  • Budget 2021 includes $500 million in financing for InBC over three years.