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2018-19
The Corporation and its mandate
Establishment of the Corporation
The Ontario Immigrant Investor Corporation (OIIC) was incorporated as an operating agency of the Ontario government on April 30, 1999. On June 22, 1999, the Corporation was accepted by the federal government as an approved fund, as defined by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), for the purpose of receiving and investing monies from the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).
Primary purpose
The OIIC was established to act as the Government of Ontario’s vehicle for receiving and investing Ontario’s share of immigrant investor funds, as required by the federal government under the federal IIP. The OIIC’s principal responsibility is to receive and invest Ontario’s share of funds from immigrant investors and to pay back immigrant investors upon the maturity of their investment in five years.
The broad goal of the OIIC is to create or sustain employment in Ontario to foster the development of a strong and viable economy, consistent with the requirements of the regulations under the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
Corporation status
The 2014 Federal budget announced the termination of the IIP. In July 2017, Ontario triggered a suspension under IRPA regulations, and as such, Ontario will no longer accept future allocations from IRCC allowing the OIIC to wind down in 2022-23.
Governance and management
The OIIC reports to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade through the Chair of the Board of Directors. There must be at least three members of the Board of Directors to meet quorum at all meetings. Board members are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
There were three directors serving at fiscal year end March 31, 2019:
Robert Burns, Chair
Appointment date: March 27, 2019
Mara Bakic, Vice Chair
Appointment date: February 15, 2017
Michael Reid, Director
Appointment date: March 27, 2019
Five executive officers were carrying out the day-to-day operations of OIIC at fiscal year end March 31, 2019:
Suzanne Hastie, President
Appointment date: March 30, 2017
Ernest Wheeler, General Manager
Appointment date: June 27, 2017
Lawrence Wagner, Chief Financial Officer
Appointment date: March 29, 2019
Tyler Hargreaves, Secretary
Appointment date: October 23, 2015
Asokan Sadasivan, Accountant
Appointment date: October 23, 2015
Program operations and performance
Performance Measures:
- To ensure that funds are secure and earn a positive return on investments.
- To stimulate economic development and job creation through public infra-structure investments.
Ontario has always taken a prudent approach to investment given that the province is obligated to repay funds to the immigrant investors in five years. Initially, Ontario only utilized the interest accrued on the capital to invest in economic development and job creation; this was similar to the approach taken by other provinces. Subsequently in 2010-11, following discussions with the federal government the approach was changed to fully invest the allocations being received. This approach was facilitated by a Credit Facility/ Loan Agreement between the OIIC and Ontario Infrastructure and Lands Corporation (OILC). This agreement stipulated that the funds loaned from OIIC would be used towards infrastructure projects and job creation. Once the agreement with Infrastructure Ontario (IO), previously OILC, expired in December 2015, OIIC began investing in zero-coupon bonds.
In 2018-2019, the OIIC continued to manage investments under the Statement of Investment Policies and Procedures (SIPP) to ensure compliance with the Federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
During the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Ontario triggered a suspension of funds under IRPA. As a result, Ontario no longer receives provincial allocations and the OIIC will wind down in 2022-23. The focus of the Corporation has now shifted to managing existing investments and meeting repayment requirements. The Ontario Financing Authority (OFA) will manage funds to ensure that all repayment obligations are met and will monitor the repayment process in conjunction with the OIIC’s accountant. In addition, the OIIC will continue to provide information to IRCC as per the IIP reporting requirements.
Risk factors
The Corporation is exposed to interest rate risk whenever any funds received from immigrants are invested in fixed income securities because the future return and market value of the investments is dependent on the prevailing interest rates. However, there is very little exposure to fluctuating interest rates during the 5-year period of the repayable provincial allocations because the maturity of the fixed income investments matches the maturity of the repayable provincial allocations.
It is management’s opinion that the Corporation is not exposed to significant credit or currency risk because all investments are with related parties supported by the Province and none of them are denominated in a foreign currency.
Financial operations and performance
In 2018-19, the agency had revenues of $5.1M against expenses of $1.5M. At year end, the agency had net financial assets of $37.8M and had returned $263.9M to the federal government. The financial assets and liability of the Corporation have decreased since 2017-2018, consistent with the wind-down of the agency following the termination of the IIP program by the federal government.