When we look at our cooperative members—and when I say “members”, I mean we're a second-tier cooperative, a wholesale cooperative, so our members are actually cooperatives as well, farm co-ops, supply co-ops, grain co-ops, grocery co-ops—we're finding we're not getting new members. We've been around for 85 years, and we have 100 members. Some of our co-ops have closed for a number of reasons—for example, there wasn't a need any more. We really are finding that there are no new cooperatives, either producer or consumer cooperatives, being developed or growing. We have opened one or two cooperatives in the last five or six years, and we've seen a significant number of private businesses open in Atlantic Canada. So I do believe, and I mentioned earlier in my briefing, that now is not the time to take our foot off the gas pedal. We need to find a way to help cooperatives start up and grow so we can continue to fuel the system.
On July 24th, 2012. See this statement in context.