RECOMMENDATION

Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act to amend the Budget Implementation Act, 1997 and the Financial Administration Act''.

SUMMARY

The amendments to the Budget Implementation Act, 1997 implement certain of the Government of Canada's commitments regarding the Canada Foundation for Innovation that were announced in the Economic Statement and Budget Update of October 18, 2000.

Funding for the Foundation will include operation and maintenance costs of research infrastructure, as well as the purchasing of access to world-leading research facilities located outside Canada and to major international collaborative research projects.

Also, a further $750,000,000 is provided to the Foundation - beyond the $500,000,000 provided for in the Economic Statement and Budget Update of October 18, 2000 - for a total amount of $1,250,000,000.

The Financial Administration Act is amended to clarify that Parliament must provide explicit authority for any borrowing by or on behalf of the Crown. Two new kinds of regulations are made possible - regulations deeming certain transactions to be a borrowing of money, and regulations imposing a requirement that a money-borrowing transaction be authorized by the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance is empowered to authorize such transactions, subject to any terms and conditions that the Minister considers appropriate.

The Financial Administration Act is also amended to correct an oversight under which the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was inadvertently removed from the list of Crown Corporations that are exempt from the application of Divisions I to IV of Part X of that Act.