Far be it for me to put words into the mouths of politicians who are here to make decisions on implementation mechanisms. Any support measures and any programs that can help existing organizations better structure their actions could be used as leverage. At times, provinces have means and ideas, but they sometimes lack leverage.
I think the federal government could easily create that leverage in other provinces, so that the movement can spread. There are some very nice cooperative results across Canada. I think they should be used as inspiration to facilitate the creation of new major cooperative networks.
I think the Co-operative Development Initiative was a good example of measures that provided tremendous support for cooperative development. I sat on the steering committee for six years—from the beginning, in 2003, until 2009. Projects from all over—although priorities were still already targeted—resulted in the creation of alliances around those projects. Without the CDI's financial support, some of those projects would not have existed. People do not lack ideas, but they often lack the means to bring them to fruition. I think that is an area where the federal government could easily play a role.