Working Ventures is also channelling capital into regions and communities within provinces. For instance, the fund currently has plans to establish MOTIVE-like funds in urban centres in Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Maritimes. Like the Québec funds, these will involve local investors and institutions.
Working Opportunity has also embarked on localized financing. Its $1 million contribution to the Strathcona Community Futures Development Corporation is the beginning of further support for a provincial network of small, independent pools. The Stathcona fund, administered by a community board, makes micro-firm loans of between $1,000 and $75,000.
A very favourable impact by labour-sponsored funds on venture financing in regions, especially concerning supply, is apparent. Data supplied by Macdonald and Associates, for instance, show the pre-eminent influence of the Fonds de solidarité in rendering the Québec sub-market the largest in Canada (since the late 1980s). Moreover, the size and stability of this fund's equity pool proved meaningful during the cyclical downturn in the national market in the early 1990s. While all other provinces experienced some contraction in venture capital supply between 1990 and 1993, growth in Québec continued unabated.
Since 1993, the investment activity of the Fonds de solidarité has also given Québec the biggest share of total disbursements in the Canadian market.Endnote 47
There is every reason to believe that comparable benefits are possible for other provinces with labour-sponsored funds. Indeed, with respect to capital supply, that impact is already being felt. Data from Macdonald and Associates reveal that funds have helped to resurrect weakened sub-markets on the Prairies (Saskatchewan and Manitoba) and in the Maritimes (e.g., New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) or to substantially enhance already vital sub-markets elsewhere, such as British Columbia.
This point is underscored by noting that one labour-sponsored fund - Working Ventures - was responsible for close to 100 percent of institutional venture capital and investment in Atlantic Canada in 1993 and 1994. In another illustration, the sharp 1994 jump in disbursements in British Columbia co-incides with the greatly intensified investing of Working Opportunity during that year (it is possible that the same will occur in Manitoba given the heightened investment activity of the Crocus Fund in the second half of 1995).Endnote 48
Considering the growth of provincially-based funds and Working Ventures, such performance is only likely to increase in upcoming years (it will be particularly interesting to examine the effects of regional investment patterns once data becomes available for 1994 and thereafter). Recent trends are illustrated in Figures 14 and 15.