Empresas Mixtas

Mixed and Joint Enterprises
Introduction
5.1 In addition to being the sole owner of Crown corporations, the federal government shares in the ownership of a number of corporations with other participants. This study dealt specifically with mixed and joint enterprises. These are corporations with share capital in which the federal government has a direct equity position together with privatesector participants or with other governments in order to further common objectives. Our study focused on the adequacy of information available to Parliament with respect to such corporations.
5.2 Where ownership is shared with the private sector (such as in the case of the Canada Development Corporation or the Cooperative Energy Corporation), the corporations are referred to as "mixed" enterprises."Joint" enterprises are those in which ownership is shared with other governments (for example, the Lower Churchill Development Corporation Limited or Société Inter-Port de Québec).
5.3 The report of the President of the Treasury Board on the government's corporate interests ( Annual Report to Parliament on Crown Corporations and Other Corporate Interests of Canada, 1983-84 ), tabled in June1985, lists a total of 24 mixed and joint enterprises at 31 December 1984. We identified one additional mixed enterprise (National Sea Products Limited) during the course of the study. However, 12 of the corporations on the Treasury Board's list are corporations in which the Superintendent of Bankruptcy has received shares under the terms of the Bankruptcy Act. They are not corporations where thegovernment's purpose in sharing ownership with other participants is to further common operating objectives. Accordingly, these 12 corporations were excluded from this study. The other 13 corporations, with which this study was concerned (see Exhibit 5.1), had total assets of about $8.7 billion and liabilities of about $7.1 billion in 1984.
(Exhibit not available)
5.4 Previous Auditor General'sReports have raised the topic of mixed and joint enterprise corporations. In 1979, we concluded in view of the investment in such corporations that a government study of their control and accountability was long overdue. Our 1982 Report recommended that "Parliament should give attention to issues surrounding the control and accountability of those mixed and joint enterprises...in which the Crown is ashareholder". In 1984, we commented on the passage of Bill C-24 - an act that amended the Financial Administration Act in relation to the control of Crown corporations. At that time we pointed out that Bill C-24 did not address - and was not intended to address - issues surrounding the control and accountability of mixed and joint enterprises, and that an appropriate accountability framework forthem remained to be considered by Parliament.
5.5 Issues relating to the accountability of mixed and joint enterprises have tended to be overshadowed during recent years by the more compelling and immediate concerns with respect to Crown corporations. The amendments to the Financial Administration Act which became effective in September 1984 were designed to address many of those concerns.Therefore, continuing now with a consideration of mixed and joint enterprises would complement the initiatives already taken with respect to Crown corporations.
5.6 A consideration by the government of the full range of issues involved in the accountability of mixed and joint enterprises would be especially timely in light of the government's announced intention to privatize a number of Crowncorporations, including, for example, Canadian Arsenals Limited, Teleglobe Canada and Canadair Limited. Experience in other countries and jurisdictions shows that the privatization process can result in governments retaining some ownership interest in privatized corporations either permanently or during a transitional period - thereby creating new mixed or joint enterprises.
Purpose
5.7 Whereas Crown...