Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, you certainly are correct, and certainly Denyse Guy, executive director of CCA, also was the executive director of the On Co-op, and she would be one of the first to say that the On Co-op used to meet very frequently with FISCO on the Ontario level. The sad part is that the

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Correct.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Certainly, the farmer's income is in selling the milk. That's for sure.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, the money made on the dividend is certainly a very good return for the investment. I wish my RRSPs were making as much as my farmers are making on the patronage.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I need to become a dairy farmer.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  My own hope, if we ever move to that route, is that cooperatives have strong representation at the table to help determine what the future of dairy farming will be in Canada. That would be my hope. Governments that have not taken cooperatives into consideration when designing a

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  That would be access to capital.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  As was mentioned around the table and by earlier speakers, there is a need to be able to educate industry, banking, etc., on what a cooperative is. The issue we constantly have is the differentiation between members' investment. Banks will see that as debt, and it's not debt; it

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Organizing on a Canadian basis would be a good thing for Gay Lea Foods, but until the regulations change in the sense of relationship to each share class having a vote versus one member, one vote, that's always going to be a restriction for us. Frank Lowery mentioned that as a

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  It certainly does reduce it, because it gives us the opportunity to hear directly from our farmer-members on what's important to them and what policies should be influenced. Also, on the other side, many times we can operate in a vacuum, and some of our members can do that, but

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  It's very, very positive.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Every time there is a reduction in the corporate tax rate, our members benefit from that.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Absolutely.