Question Period Note: EDC PROVIDING SUPPORT TO VOLKSWAGEN

EDC HAS LENT 400 MILLIONS EUROS TO VOLKSWAGEN

• Export Development Canada (EDC) is a Crown corporation mandated to support and develop Canada's export trade

• EDC provided financing to Volkswagen in early 2015 prior to the launch of environmental investigations

• EDC ceased considering any new financing for Volkswagen once allegations of environmental offences were revealed

• EDC works at arms-length from the government and makes its own financing decisions

• We expect EDC to conduct robust environmental and social due diligence of project transactions it supports and expect EDC to be fully transparent and accountable for their transactions.

EDC is Canada's export credit agency. The Export Development Act provides EDC with the mandate to support and develop Canada's export trade and to respond to international business opportunities. EDC provides a range of trade finance and risk management services, including short-term credit insurance, direct loans, loan guarantees, bonding support, and political risk insurance. EDC is financially self-sustaining and has approximately 1,700 employees. In 2018, EDC served 8,617 Canadian companies, and facilitated $104.6 billion in exports and investments abroad.
The day-to-day operations of EDC are at arm's length from the Government. EDC is governed by a Chair and Board of Directors responsible for implementing the direction provided by the Minister of International Trade. EDC is expected to deliver on Canada's ambitious trade agenda while upholding the highest standards of responsible business conduct. In this regard, EDC adheres to multilateral standards developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for export credit agencies in relation to environmental and social due diligence, sustainable lending and anti-bribery. EDC has recently built on these initiatives by introducing a comprehensive Human Rights Policy.
Volkswagen
In April 2015, Export Development Canada (EDC) announced that it had provided 400 million Euro (Approximately 526 million Canadian dollars at the time) in financing to Volkswagen under its “Pull Financing” program (Now called Connection Financing).
The purpose of EDC's Connection Financing program is to provide financing to large international corporations with important needs for goods and services which could be provided by Canadian suppliers. EDC uses the leverage provided by the provision of this financing to introduce suitable Canadian suppliers to these foreign corporations. As a result of this financing, Canadian suppliers benefit from privileged access to decision makers within those corporations.
The loan provided to Volkswagen was in relation to the expansion of the group's operations in Mexico. EDC's objective was to have Canadian suppliers of autoparts selected to supply the Volkswagen

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