Special Committee on Cooperatives Committee on July 26th, 2012

[John McBain]

The biggest thing is that we have lots of members. They can invest now in the co-op, but they don't really get any kind of tax incentive or that sort of thing, as other Canadian corporations might get when you make an investment in such a corporation.

We have lots of farmers who are members. They have RRSP money that's been invested in the stock market or elsewhere. I think they would like to have that kind of money put into something they support in their community, rather than have it go out of their area. Those are some of the things we're sort of looking at.

We have access to loans, just like everybody else, through Farm Credit or Alberta Financial Services types of things, but those are just loans. We're looking at having membership participation in investing in these co-ops. We sell memberships. Each co-op sells its own memberships at each plant. So they have membership capital that way. We're just looking for more investment from other businesses in the communities.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

If I have understood properly, that would require changes to federal regulations.

[John McBain]

Yes, it would be some changes to the regulation, as well as the Income Tax Act.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you very much.

My next question is for the Mountain Equipment CO-op representatives.

Your company is well-established, but I would like to know what challenges you think the cooperative movement as a whole is facing.

[Margie Parikh]

We have many, many co-ops, and they are varied in size, structure, and mission. It is challenging to speak on behalf of all cooperatives, but certainly what I've been hearing through the Canadian Co-operative Association is that access to capital, in some cases, is a challenge, especially with the smaller organizations. We don't have individual shareholders. We can't have a public offering. As we heard this morning, as well, sometimes financial institutions are reluctant to lend to cooperatives. I think that is a barrier for many co-ops, especially smaller ones.

There are many good things that being a cooperative entails—as we heard a few minutes ago on the engagement of our members—but sometimes that can't overcome some of these structural barriers.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

How do you view the federal government's role—as a partner—in the growth of cooperatives?

[The Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

As you've probably noticed, the time has expired, but you've been able to put a question, and I'll ask that the response be as brief as possible.

[Margie Parikh]

In terms of what we need from the government or what the government's role is, I would go back to the Canadian Co-operative Association, which has a much better handle on the varied needs.

Again, there's no one prescription. I think there are probably structural as well as financial contributions and support that the government can provide, and I would look to the CCA to provide that direction.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Blake Richards]

Okay. Thank you very much.

Next we have Ms. Gallant. You have five minutes.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

First of all, to Mountain Equipment Co-op, do all of your members have voting rights, the ones who pay the $5 to buy things from the store?

[Shona McGlashan]

Yes, they do.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Do you send out notices for these meetings, or is the voting by mail?

[Shona McGlashan]

People can vote in-store or by mail-in ballot or electronically. People will be informed by e-mail, by signage in the stores, and on our web page.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

[Shona McGlashan]

But I would say that take-up on our election is relatively low.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

I know of a lot of people who have memberships, and no one has ever been advised about voting, so I find that very interesting.

[Shona McGlashan]

If they send us their e-mail address, I'll let them know.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

Now, I notice that you have “1% For The Planet”, and that you support environmental causes. Which environmental groups or causes do you support?

[Margie Parikh]

Well, it depends. First of all, within each community where we operate, we support organizations locally. We're serving our members locally. There are national organizations, such as CPAWS, which we partner with and support. Some of the organizations are national and some are local.

We assess it every year—some of the information we can provide to you, as well as being on our website—and every year we show where we've donated funds, what those organizations do, and we provide links to these websites.

We have a fairly rigorous process, which includes a board member on the committee looking at all of the applications and whether they meet out members' needs.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

I was looking at your website, and I couldn't find that list, nor the list of not-for-profit organizations you collaborate with to promote access to the outdoors. Perhaps we can talk afterwards.

Now, with respect to ethical sourcing, I notice that you monitor your factories abroad to ensure there's essentially no slave labour going on. What method do you use to monitor that?

[Margie Parikh]

We aren't the experts in that, so we rely on third parties. We don't do our own monitoring; we rely on third parties who specialize in monitoring to audit our factories and report back to us. We operate within a policy that says what's allowable and when there is an infraction found how we deal with it. Our intention is to support our factories to improve their practices and thereby improve the conditions for their workers, but that monitoring is done by independent third parties.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

So in terms of sourcing and organizations and ensuring that people are treated fairly in the workplace, you would support ethical oil, for example, in Canada?

[Margie Parikh]

Right now our scope is with the products we produce, so we work to improve the conditions in the factories where we produce our products.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

On your website you talk about a green building program. Would your store in Ottawa, for example, have an item or a system that would demonstrate the green energy, so to speak?