Executive summary

The Ontario Immigrant Investor Corporation (OIIC) business plan summarizes the 2020-2021 fiscal year activities and results and outlines the fund’s main activities anticipated for 2021-2024.
The OIIC was established in April 1999 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 Immigrant Investor Program (IIP).

Ontario has always taken a prudent approach to investing these funds given that the province is obligated to pay back the immigrant investors upon the maturity of their investment in five years.
Following the termination of the IIP in 2014, the focus of the OIIC has shifted to managing existing investments and meeting repayment requirements until the agency winding down in 2022-2023.

In 2020-21, 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 (IRPA). As of Quarter 3 ending on December 31, 2020, the OIIC had repaid approximately $5.5M to the immigrant investors for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Mandate

Pursuant to the Development Corporations Act, the OIIC is mandated 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 for all participating provinces and territories under the federal IIP. The broad goal of the OIIC was to create or sustain employment in Ontario in order to foster the development of a strong and viable economy, consistent with the requirements of the regulations under IRPA.

As detailed in section 4.0 below, Ontario no longer receives immigrant investor funds.  As such, the OIIC’s principal current responsibility is to 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 Treasury Board Secretariat has provided six government priorities for Ontario’s agencies to address, beginning in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, where applicable, in their mandate for the year. The OIIC will focus on the priority of Transparency and Accountability by:

  • abiding by applicable government directives and policies and ensuring transparency and accountability in reporting;
  • adhering to requirements of the Agencies and Appointment Directive (AAD), and responding to audit findings, where applicable;
  • identifying appropriate skills, knowledge and experience needed to effectively support the board’s role in agency governance and accountability.

Governance and organizational structure

The OIIC was incorporated as an operating agency of the Ontario government on April 30, 1999. On June 22, 1999, the OIIC was accepted by the federal government as an approved fund, as defined by IRPA, for the purpose of receiving and investing monies from the IIP.

Business support, strategic management services and other administrative support, including accommodation, financial, legal and human resource services is provided by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (or MLTSD) without charge.

The OIIC governance and organizational structure is depicted in the chart below:

  • Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD)
  • OIIC Board of Directors (minimum 3)
  • President
  • General Manager
    • Accountant
    • Chief Financial Officer
    • Secretary

The Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development is responsible for providing overall government direction to the OIIC through the Chair of the Board of Directors, including:

  • approving the annual business plan, performance targets and budget
  • receiving the annual report and audited financial statements
  • recommending Board appointments

Allocations

The 2014 federal budget announced the termination of the IIP with a commitment to process applications that were received prior to February 11, 2014. Ontario continued to participate in the program during this wind down period and has received its share of the remaining funds. In July 2017, Ontario received approval to suspend the receipt of monies from the federal government. As a result, Ontario no longer accepts allocations related to the program. The repayment of the allocations processed in the 2017-18 fiscal year is expected to occur by March 2023. Accordingly, the OIIC will remain operational until then to meet its repayment obligations under the IIP.

Strategies and activities

The goal of the OIIC is to create or sustain employment in Ontario in order to foster the development of a strong and viable economy, as mandated by the regulations under IRPA.

Ontario has been strategic in its approach to investing the funds by utilizing allocations received and interest earned to invest in economic development and job creation. As of Quarter 3 ending on December 31, 2020, the OIIC has $42M under its management; 9% is in zero-coupon bonds and 91% is in 90-day treasury bills (T-bills). As of Quarter 3 ending on December 31, 2020, Ontario’s remaining repayment amount is approximately $3.8M.

In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-2020, there has been no negative impact (operational, financial, strategic) on the OIIC’s regular operation. There are no impacts anticipated, and as such, no plan required to address them. The OIIC’s investments have been managed responsibly and scheduled repayments have been issued as normal.

Performance measures and targets

The OIIC’s performance measures are to meet two main objectives over the next 3 years:

  1. To ensure that funds are secure and earn a positive return on investments, and;
  2. To pay back as scheduled the remaining balance of investor funds until the wind down of the OIIC in 2022-23.

In 2020-2021 (for the period from April 1 to December 31, 2020), the OIIC earned net revenue of $0.17M. As the investment principal is reduced each year, the corresponding revenue is expected to steadily decline toward the OIIC wind down in 2022-23.

Resources and staff

Following the restructuring of Ontario’s ministries in February 2020, the OIIC was officially transferred to the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTSD) from the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT).

Under the transfer to MLTSD, Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program Business Services Branch staff continues to provide program and secretariat support to the OIIC, ensuring the Agency continues to meet AAD requirements. The OIIC will continue to work with MLTSD Agency Relations Unit to ensure its compliance with the AAD via monitoring in eVista system.

 

The Controllership Unit within the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade continues to provide financial tracking and reporting support to the Agency for continuity.

Financial projections

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 OIIC 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 can be met and will monitor the repayment process in conjunction with OIIC’s Accountant.

Investment policy

Funds will continue to be managed by the Ontario Financing Authority to ensure that the outstanding obligations to immigrant investors can be met in their entirety and that OIIC funds accumulate interest in order to be able to meet the repayment schedule to IRCC.

Forecasted statement of operations* – March 31 ($M)

Category Item 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023
Revenue Interest income 0.2644 0.0918 0.0215
Revenue Total revenue 0.2644 0.0918 0.0215
Expenses Amortization of deferred commission Not available Not available Not available
Expenses Investment management fee 0.0133 0.0006 Not available
Expenses Banking fees 0.0305 0.0041 0.0006
Expenses Total expenses 0.0438 0.0047 0.0006
Not available Excess of revenues over expenses 0.2206 0.0871 0.0209

* Forecasted figures are taken from the 2021-22 Multi-Year Planning (MYP) Consolidation Reports.

Risk analysis

No risks have been identified.

Communications plan

No public communication is anticipated given the wind down of the federal IIP and subsequently the OIIC.