Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I guess Dianne and her colleague have really expressed it. I can only concur with them. As far as merging goes, everyone needs to maintain their own identity in their own organizations. In New Brunswick we have seven woodlot owner groups. We work in conjunction under one umbrell

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Setting us apart, I think we draw on a larger pool of expertise. We're not scared to say we don't know. We're willing to work together towards improving things for each other; therefore, we're learning together. We truly believe we shouldn't reinvent the wheel if things are worki

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

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  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  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  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....