The Canadian CED Network’s Policy Council has submitted a response to the federal government’s invitation for pre-budget submissions. The submission, sent to the Standing Committee on Finance, focuses on social procurement policy and training on social enterprise and co-operative for government staff.
The Recommendations for the 2015 Federal Budget are to:
- Build on the experience of the CED sector in performance-based contracts by documenting and adopting most effective practices.
- Establish a Canada Impact Investment Fund in partnership with private, institutional and philanthropic investors. The Federal government should invest $20M per year for five years in first loss capital, to be matched by private, institutional and foundation investors in a fund-of-funds structure.
- Provide funding for the replication of successful community economic development investment initiatives across the country.
- Implement a CED policy framework, inclusive of CED principles and a CED lens.
- Implement social value weighting in all RFPs and contracts.
- Provide social enterprises, non-profits, and co-operatives access to existing regulatory and tax measures and business development programs available to small- and medium- enterprises. This should be coupled with awareness-raising efforts for government officials to ensure a level playing field for alternative forms of incorporation.
