Thank you.
My name is Carol Hunter and I am the executive director of the Canadian Co-operative Association. CCA is the umbrella organization representing co-operatives across Canada. Our organization includes provincial associations, credit unions and financial co-ops, agricultural, consumer, as well as service sector co-operatives. A complete list of our members is included at the end of our brief, which is here if the clerk wants to take it.
Co-operatives and credit unions in Canada have combined assets of over $225 billion and 155,000 employees. There are over 9,000 co-operatives, credit unions, and caisses populaires across the country, providing services and products to over 11 million Canadians.
Canada has one of the highest proportions of co-op membership in the world; 40% of Canadians are members of at least one co-op. In Quebec, co-op membership stands at 70% of the population, and in Alberta it is 65%. Over 70,000 Canadians serve as volunteers on the boards of co-ops and credit unions.
World-wide, close to one billion people are members of co-operatives, and the global movement of co-operatives has always seen itself as part of the social economy. The European Union names co-operatives, mutual societies, associations, foundations, and social enterprises as the major elements of the social economy.
Whether it is called the social economy, social enterprise development, or community enterprise, these businesses are all locally owned and democratically controlled. They put service to the community rather than profit maximization to shareholders as their raîson d'être. They are an important third leg of the economy, along with the private and public sector of our mixed economy.
While we are pleased that Quebec has received substantial federal government investments under the partial roll-out of the social economy initiative, we are all concerned that this national program has not been rolled out across the rest of the country. We believe that there is still a major need for such a program to help with social economy enterprise start-up and growth, and in this short presentation we will explain why.
The social economy has been, for many years now, part of the policy landscape of the European Union and its member countries. And for ten years now, as last week's celebration of the tenth anniversary in Montreal showed, the social economy is part of the Quebec landscape as well. We argue that the social economy is growing in Canada and around the world. Why then should the federal government not support programs that can help social or community enterprises to grow better, faster, and in every region of the country?
Why are social economy enterprises an important part of the solution to key policy drivers? The development of the social economy can help provide some of the answers to the issues raised by some of the crucial policy drivers of our day.
First, on globalization, the world economies are becoming increasingly intertwined. The traditional large private corporations can change the location of ownership, control, and location of jobs overnight. Social economy enterprises, from co-operatives to non-profits, however, are rooted in their communities. Jobs and services stay there and these enterprises reinvest their surpluses in our communities.
Second, on the environment, while climate change and environmental concerns are at the forefront of the concerns of Canadians, social economy enterprises, such as renewable energy co-operatives, whether ethanol or wind, can help give communities a real role in doing something about the environment. Through the federal agricultural co-operative development initiative, CCA is helping new producer co-ops get started in this area.
Third is accountability, transparency, democratization, and participation. In Canada and around the world, there is growing pressure to see our institutions implementing these principles to the fullest degree. In the business world, this is equally true. Social enterprises, as democratic and locally rooted businesses, can provide the framework for communities to really own and control their future.
Fourth is poverty and exclusion. Canada still has too high a poverty rate of roughly one in six, and this rate is more than double for aboriginal communities and visible minority groups, and very high for people with disabilities. Social enterprises can allow marginalized peoples to participate more fully in our economic development and better share in our success as a country.
And the last policy driver is an aging workforce. As our workforce ages at a dramatic rate, it is crucial for us to draw on all of the groups in our society, from inner city youth to rural communities that are not presently fully participating in the workforce. Social economy enterprises can provide the right tools for workforce training and skills development and act in areas where the traditional private sector will not venture.
We'd like to speak now to what the federal involvement can do. We believe that the federal government should help social enterprises to get started and to grow, because by providing short-term and start-up help to social enterprises, dependence on EI and social assistance is reduced, as well as the need for ongoing long-term government support. Helping people to develop the self-help institutions that can soon function without government aid is a smart government policy.
Second, while governments have spent and continue to spend more money supporting individual and private sector entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, a level playing field argument means that other business models, such as community-owned businesses, should also be supported and nurtured.
Third, federal government funds can help leverage much greater funds from provincial governments and other sources, as the Quebec example shows, where some $22 million in federal funds is leveraging some $30 million from other sources.
Finally, the federal government can demonstrate leadership by setting an example for provinces and cities that have not yet begun to help the social economy sector.
What kinds of programs are needed? The CCA believes we need a menu of federal government programs that include six components. First, develop social enterprise technical assistance and support for feasibility studies and training. Second, provide patient capital, large sums of long-term capital funding that can help leverage funding from other sources. Third, open up all existing federal government programs, from training to small business programs, to include help for social economy enterprises. Fourth, stimulate joint partnerships with the provinces and cities in a social economy program. Fifth, develop tax credit incentive investment programs that encourage individuals to invest in co-operative development. Finally, continue and expand existing programs such as the cooperative development initiative, as well as the newly launched agricultural co-op development initiative.
Canada is a rich country that prides itself on organizational diversity, a mixed economy, inclusiveness, and entrepreneurial innovation. A social economy initiative or a community enterprise partnership, whichever name we want to give it, would help to stimulate local solutions to job creation, the provision of community services, and above all, mutual self-help.
Thank you for your attention.