Special Committee on Cooperatives Committee on July 10th, 2012

Evidence of meeting #3 for Special Committee on Cooperatives in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cooperatives.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Status of Cooperatives in Canada

Committee Business

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Claude Carrière Associate Deputy Minister, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

John Connell Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry

Jeremy Rudin Assistant Deputy Minister, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance

Denyse Guy Executive Director, Canadian Co-operative Association

Marion Wrobel Vice-President, Policy and Operations, Canadian Bankers Association

Stephen Fitzpatrick Vice-President, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Credit Union Central of Canada

Nicholas Gazzard Executive Director, National Office, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada

Frank Lowery Senior Vice-President, Senior Counsel and Secretary, The Co-operators Group

John Taylor President, Ontario Mutual Insurance Association

Michael Barrett Chief Operations Officer, Gay Lea Foods Cooperative Ltd.

Bob Friesen Farmers of North America

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

It's owned by one person. It's owned by a farmer from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, who started it in 1998. He owns the structure.

As I mentioned earlier, FNA doesn't retail anything. Our revenue is the farmer membership money, and that money goes towards paying staff and agrologists and towards program development.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Does he make all the decisions?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

He makes them together with the rest of his staff and the advisory board, yes.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

You're the CEO.

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

No, I'm the VP.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

The sheet we have in front of us reads that you are the VP of government affairs and the chief executive officer.

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

I'm CEO of Farmers of North America Strategic Agriculture Institute, which is an organization that does informational research for the farmers so that they can make better decisions.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Is that an organization owned by you?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

No, that's part of the FNA.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Are there any other such organizations the FNA owns?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

No. FNA Strategic Agriculture is an arm of FNA.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Are there other arms?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

It's simply an organization that does informational research. Rather than developing programs and negotiating prices, this arm of FNA deals with informational research.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Are there other arms?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

No.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Are co-ops members of FNA?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

No, they're not members of FNA. We have talked to co-ops and have suggested that we could help them work together with our input suppliers.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Are they not accepted as members, or do they just not want to join?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

The membership structure is farmer-members.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

So there are no co-ops.

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

No.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Okay.

You say there are 10,000 members.

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

Yes.

3 p.m.

Liberal

Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Are they all in Canada?

3 p.m.

Farmers of North America

Bob Friesen

Yes.