Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am Pamela Folkins, general manager of SNB Wood Co-operative Ltd. Attending with me is Christina Keating, supervisor of finance and wood purchase. SNB is an organization of private woodlot

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Through SNB Wood Co-op, you have the opportunity to access experienced staff to help you to manage your property. We provide services based on your needs. If your woodlot needs to be analyzed as to the value, what treatment should take place on it for the sustainability of it and

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Ours are available for our members.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  And our provincial agency we have to register with.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Not online.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I'm sure you could.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Certainly.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We've had limited experience with ACOA. We like to be fairly self-sufficient. However, our co-op has been able to obtain moneys over the years. Most recently, a couple of years ago, it was for forest management program assistance. In the last year it was turned down. With the d

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We did not have any participation in that, and I'm not aware of it, so....

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Under our organization, we operate within the bylaws where you have opportunity for share capital and loan capital. We've grown from $2,500 in 1975 up to $700,000, and I mean, that's members' equity. That's from profits made from doing business through their organization. They ma

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Those moneys are members' equity. That does not include the general reserves or anything like that. For any outside-the-box activity, you can access the general reserve moneys but it must be approved by the membership at their AGM.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  The majority is marketing, and secondly it's the management of their properties. That's the main focus. So it's looking outside the box. It's marketing outside of the local area to survive. I mean, marketing is the main factor.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  In an ideal world, that should have happened. In New Brunswick, dealing with large pulp and paper companies and sawmills, I think that a lot of support for the corporates has helped them to survive. A lot have not. The unfortunate thing is that it didn't filter down through, so—

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  No, no. Big business ends up being helped. For the small guy—and I'm saying we're the small guy—it didn't filter down through. So the corporates get richer—

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I'm sorry. I misunderstood.