The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that the dramatic decline in the number of publicly traded companies around the globe has been well documented. Guest columnist Michael Robinson writes that in the United States, the number of public companies is down by nearly a half from its peak in 1997. Canada has experienced a similar decline after the number of companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange peaked in 2008. Many U.S. academics are not concerned about the decline in their public markets as increases in private equity investments have more than filled the financing gap. This has allowed U.S. companies to remain private longer and also provided existing public companies an off-ramp to the private markets. Indeed, U.S. and global private equity markets have grown significantly; data from McKinsey show a near doubling of annual private equity investments globally from 2014 to 2023, to $2.1-trillion (U.S.). Unfortunately, the same growth has not been observed in Canada. Alarmingly, the Canadian Venture Capital Association reports that annual private equity investments in Canada fell from $41.2-billion to $9.7-billion from 2014 to 2023 -- a decline of more than 75 per cent. Canadian start-ups have fared better.