Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for being here this morning.
My first question is for the representatives of the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité.
I believe the cooperative model is very well known in Quebec. I remember that, when I was young, I attended the annual meeting of the cooperative back home, the caisse populaire. The cooperatives have been well established in my region for about 70 years. They celebrated the 25th anniversary of the movement when I was young; today they're celebrating its 65th or 70th anniversary. The Groupe Promutuel back home is getting ready to celebrate its 160th anniversary. That institution is older than our country; that says a lot.
My riding includes a portion of Lévis, which is the cradle of cooperation. That's where the first caisse populaire was founded. It's also where the head office of the Caisses Desjardins is located. I say that to show that it really has very deep roots in Quebec.
Our region—and perhaps others as well—will have a problem to deal with. Businesses with 25 to 40 employees, even 100 employees, will have to be transferred. However, we're having trouble recruiting new entrepreneurs to acquire them. Consequently, the money necessary to acquire businesses that operate well is hard to come by.
Could the cooperative model provide assistance to workers? When a business has to be transferred and finds no takers, can workers use that model to help them acquire the business where they work so that it can continue operating?