That idea has actually been bouncing around for a few years now. I can recall a standing finance committee a few years back when I was asked the same question.
Because of the way the cooperative movement is evolving, the purpose it serves in an extremely diverse range of sectors and the momentum it is gaining within Canada's economy, the movement is no longer concentrated in the agricultural sector. It has spread everywhere: finance, funeral services, health care, fisheries, natural resources, forestry and so on.
It is clear then from that diversity of sectors that the movement is not just agriculture-based. Cooperatives need a gateway that provides for dialogue with the federal government. And it has to line up with the very nature of the cooperative movement. We saw Industry Canada as a department that would have the ability to address the needs of cooperative enterprises.