Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  There are other smaller cooperatives. We are by far the largest. There is Organic Meadow, etc., and St. Albert, for example. They are distant.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, there are. There is Farmers Dairy. There is Scotsburn Dairy, Northumberland Dairy.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  As I mentioned, there is a dairy cooperative meeting pre-summit happening at the Quebec summit, but I have probably spent in 2012 at least 20 days on the road developing relationships with cooperatives in the dairy sector, and we are doing such things as joint purchasing. We are

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I would not say it would be easy, because there are still regional identities and concerns, but I believe—and I am, again, the cooperative evangelist—it is the methodology that would ensure a successful and healthy dairy sector in Canada.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  You can get your money back. Certainly, the element of a cooperative is that the par value stays the same. If a share is worth $17, it will be worth $17 when you retire. Where your investment comes back is in your return on your dividends.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, there is. Some of our larger farmers would have up to half a million dollars invested in the cooperative. They have their base capital, and then their patronage stays, and then it gets paid out as well.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Banks right now have priority, but we are actually in the process of changing the governance model and creditor-proofing to ensure that our members are not left high and dry in case something happens. We're doing it now, in the years of plenty, so that we understand the rules and

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Absolutely, there are assets.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  No. We have the same financial institution. So for the last seven years, we've been educating them. I think they know a little bit better, but it also depends on organizational change and when I have to re-educate.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We have not used credit unions, because, as I said earlier, we couldn't get enough dollars. It was too large.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  For Gay Lea, in the year 2012, if you purchase our product, we are starting to use other IYC and cooperative logos. We have a genuine, not just generous, website. We have links to our fellow cooperatives. In fact, I was talking to The Co-operators Group only two weeks ago about d

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I think Britain does a better job of having a singular co-op brand, and I think there is a model there for Canada to be able to follow.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  In Ontario we have two plants within what I would call metropolitan Toronto. They have been there for decades. But if you look, we have plants in Guelph, in Ivanhoe, which competes with St. Albert, and in Teeswater. I am not much of a betting man, but I would tell you that those

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Certainly, first of all, I hope you wouldn't be reaching for those other products. Second, we are still governed by the same business laws, etc. Where the difference comes is in the governance model we operate and where the profits go. These profits don't go offshore to nameless

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes. We can't point the finger at government or everyone. I don't think the cooperative sector is as effective as it needs to be in order to make sure that it has its members create and understand the value as well, but that's an opportunity for us, and as was mentioned, 2012 cer