Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thanks for sharing your afternoon with us. Certainly your comments and your knowledge are very enlightening.
Picking up on what some of my colleagues said earlier this afternoon, and just lately, and listening to what some of our presenters or witnesses have told us, the co-ops have, for want of better words, a pretty good nest egg in terms of dollars put away for expansion and those kinds of things.
What do you see as the percentage that is reasonable for government to be involved in this business? There are two levels of government, the provincial and the federal governments, involved in start-up costs and other things. Has the co-op movement now reached a point where the government costs or the government input is not as critical as it once was, because there are other sources of funding for start-up co-ops that weren't there years ago? Now co-ops and mutual funds can be earmarked to help get a co-op up and running.
I'm looking at the broad distance, and at the nearer distance, as well, in terms of what a reasonable percentage is. If we talk percentage, then we don't have to worry about the numbers, such as having just a $100,000 involvement for a co-op that's $2 million, or you know, a co-op down here that's just getting started. What would you say would be a reasonable percentage from both levels of government?