Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, and I would say we didn't start out that way. When we started out back in the van, that was fulfilling a need.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  The founding members were driving across to the States and sort of smuggling the stuff back in, initially.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Speaking for the Mountain Equipment Co-op, we mean “prudent”. It is our members' equity we work with. We are a retailer. We want to be innovative and creative. We are low-geared, meaning we are low-leveraged. But it is because we are prudent with our funds, with your funds, with

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We don't self-fund everything. We access capital. For example, right now we have some capital investments, so we've gone to the banks to access financing. But we have sizable revenues, and it is not as challenging as it might be if we were smaller. I'm not sure—I wasn't around th

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, and because we are a member organization, we are risk-averse. That's another difference you find with cooperatives. While we do access capital from the banks, we do so after very, very careful consideration, because it isn't our organization; it's collectively our organizati

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Our policy says that our lowest-paid employees, our floor staff, must be paid above market. And conversely, our highest-paid employees, our CEO and our senior staff, must not exceed the market. That is the policy.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes. In terms of looking at supporting small businesses, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be supporting all small businesses. But I would like an understanding and a recognition of the role cooperatives play, not only from an economic perspective but also from the community invol

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I don't know that I can answer that definitively. I would say that because we're looking at the federal co-op act, we're talking about the federal level. Tying that into an earlier question, start-ups, whether they're co-ops or not, may require funding. But if you combine that w

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I wouldn't trade off health care.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes. We are not profit-driven, but we aim to create a surplus. That surplus goes back to the members in terms of a patronage return, and we use some of that capital to grow: provide more member services, purchase our products, do our Ottawa renovation. Beyond what we need to gro

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  It is the model that many cooperatives use.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Of members?

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We're here to serve our members. So if we have more members, we will endeavour to serve them. And if you're not a member, we encourage the rest of you to come on in and check out our nice products.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  There are a couple of things. One is that we did have help. We didn't have government help back then, but we had help from REI, in the States, which I believe provided products to us at wholesale prices so we could then offer them to Canadians.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Exactly. Another thing is that the world was different in 1971. We have more challenges today. We have more competition today. When we move into an area, our goal is not to wipe out the competition. Our goal is to inspire and enable everyone to live active outdoor lifestyles.