Officials within government don't understand the cooperative model. Increasingly, we are seeing examples of cooperatives that require government assistance. The government tries to lump cooperatives together with traditional business or non-profit organizations. We are in the middle. We do both.
A cooperative's structure is very different, given that the members are elected. There's a board of directors, and decisions take time. Capital is difficult to obtain, as it is for any business. Sources of capital need to be found. The members of a cooperative aren't always willing to offer their homes as security.
That's what I mean when I talk about a lack of awareness and information. At the same time, in certain areas of Canada, public servants know the system and help cooperatives more because they understand that model.