Why give these guys more money when they lost over $50 million last year? Do you let babies play with hammers? Kids play with matches?

Herb,....who didn't get smoked in world markets last year? There are some big brains out there that got hammered as well. You would bitch if they were all cash and earned 1% when equities were up 20%.

Most government funds are not allowed to invest in equities -for good reason as we have seen. NDI trust(betrayers) wanted to play with the big boys and got burnt big time. And thats alright with you? Please you Liberal apologists- a little accountability is in order here. If an NDP board had lost $50 million you would be screaming. The fact they are all Liberals does not make it acceptable. And there seems to be desire to change on their part.

Sorry that should read that there seems to be no desire to change on their part.
If someone is not held accountable, we will be throwing good money after bad.

Herb, you are wrong. Government funds and pensions are allowed to invest in equities provided they fit a defined prescribed mandate. Regretably over the past 18 months many investments that would fit that mandate got creamed. Historically I thought AAA paper was as 'safe' as it could get, and that does fit virtually every trusts mandate. Currently there is a boat load of what was 'AAA' paper that is virtually worthless.

Zoom read it and weep

"At the beginning of 2006, after its initial year of operation, NDIT's fund balance stood at $187.3 million. The gain was due to investment income of nearly $3.8 million, with disbursements limited to a few grants and loans for regional projects, and administrative overhead.

At this point, the board of directors decided to take its endowment out of a low-risk, money-market account managed by the provincial government's Municipal Finance Authority, and switch it into a variety of funds overseen by SEI Investments Canada Company, a Toronto-based investment firm."

If you are really interested in the whole sad story, read it here:

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2009/05/04/BCRail/

Triple A, well when it all boils down to it. if you want to be safe, throw it in the bank and deal with making 1%. If you want the money to work for you, than there is a risk. 90% of the time, putting money in triple A investments are good. But its still a investment into someone else.

Risk = Reward, does not mean every time you risk your money there is a reward.

Who said anything about 1% ? Its pretty easy to find safe bonds paying 3%.But a fundamental rule of investment is that if you don't understand it, don't invest in it. The directors of NDIT didn't understand anything, so they bundled our money off to an investment firm in Toronto. All the idiots deserve to be fired.

Herbster, I agree 100% with your analysis. Furthermore if the fund is restricted to only investments in non-profit organizations, then why in the freggin world were they allowed to invest that same capital for profit in a risk they didn't understand. If its not allowed to be invested through their mandate in for-profit enterprise, then surely they shouldn't have been investing that same capital for returns of their own in for-profit higher return investments.

All the idiots do deserve to be fired, because they broke the trust with the intent of their mandate. Had the trust been able to keep its original mandate of providing seed capital for free enterprise, as it was sold it would be when BC Rail was privatized, then this wouldn't be such a huge issue... but they went back on the original NDI Trust intent of providing venture capital to new economic opportunities, and instead horded it all to subsidize government pet projects for political capital... while at the same time throwing the money into risky investments for profits.. the kind of profits they could have had by investing in solid venture capital projects in the north as their name infers, but their mandate betrays.

Its a betrayal of public trust from start to finish IMO.

There are no safe bonds paying 3% right now. And not-for-profits use various financial instruments to raise funds. All legal. All normal. All part of a normal business cycle. You folks sound a little self-entitled - like they lost YOUR money. They didn't. If you're such a financial whiz, why are aren't you managing the fund? That's what I thought.

FYI, 1-3 year bonds issued by any government worth trusting right now are averaging less than a 1% yield. To get over 3%, you're looking at a 10+ year bond. Yay, 3% after 10 years, that doesn't even cover inflation. Glad you aren't managing this fund. And there's plenty of commercial bonds with double digit returns right now - but be afraid, be VERY afraid.

Gamblor way to set up a straw man. No one said giving funds to a Toronto investment firm was illegal. Just that it was evidently stupid. The proof is in the $50 million they lost.
And of course it was our money they lost. Whose else might it have been? If you have a family of four, kiss 2 grand goodbye. If that doesn't bother you, then I suspect you might be one of the so-called directors.
I am not asking to run the fund. I am asking for new directors to be put in charge who will not jeopardize a public trust with foolish decisions.
As far as bod yields go, you should perhaps find yourself a new stockbroker.
Here is a list of some outstanding corporate bonds paying well above 3%

BANK OF MTL CORP 22 7.92 M 2012/07/31 100.00 7.92 M 4.11
BELL CANADA COUPON CORP 0.00 S 2018/12/01 50.76 7.25 M 9.18
ROYAL BANK CORP 6.75 S 2012/06/04 100.00 6.75 M 4.18
T-D BANK CORP 6.55 S 2012/07/31 100.00 6.55 M 4.20
ENBRIDGE PIPELINE CORP MTN 6.55 S 2027/11/17 105.58 6.04 M 10.84
GEORGE WESTON LIMITED CORP 5.90 S 2009/02/05 100.00 5.57 M 0.00
ROYAL BANK CORP 4.25 S 2017/02/08 99.76 5.49 M 6.50
CANADIAN NATURAL RES. CORP 4.95 S 2015/06/01 97.27 5.49 M 5.00
LOBLAWS CORP 7.10 S 2016/06/01 109.40 5.47 M 5.40
NOVA SCOTIA PROV 6.60 S 2027/06/01 113.54 5.41 M 10.66 CDNPROV Chart
ONTARIO HYDRO PROV PKG 8.50 S 2025/05/26 129.13 5.37 M 10.02 CDNPROV Chart
NFLD LAB HYDRO PROV 8.40 S 2026/02/27 133.40 5.35 M 9.88 CDNPROV Chart
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA CORP 4.15 S 2017/10/27 99.78 5.07 M 6.96
CANADIAN TIRE CORP 4.95 S 2015/06/01 99.54 5.04 M 5.02 CDNMTN Chart Price
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA CORP 4.75 S 2012/06/15 99.65 5.02 M 2.75

If the Canadian Banks go under, you might as well invest in seed potatoes and a shotgun, because we're all screwed then anyway.

hey herb, your out of your leauge on this one. Posting bond yields from some website only compounds your ignorance of money management, nice to see eagleone backs you 100%.

There are in fact very stringent rules and allocations that apply in various degrees to public funds. Got any Idea how much the federal CPP funds were down Herb? Or the Ontario teachers plan, and my favorite the Caisse Depopulair of Quebec. There fault was to hold over 30 Billion of triple aaa money market paper. Later to be known as ACBP. The Debt raters are the big idiots here and future regulatory changes had better focus there.

The NDIT board acted as vitually every entity in North America that was entrusted to manage funds. Demonizing board members as incompetent is way over the top.