I think the representative from Vancity said something that I thought was very compelling. I don't mean to.... I lost my rose-coloured glasses about a decade ago, and I never found them afterwards. But I do believe that a cooperative being a mission-driven organization matters. On the HR competition side, for example, we do find people who are more compelled to join us because of that. I also think that individuals participate in a co-op as customers for that reason, as well.
I will mention—and your colleague can attest to this, seeing as how his wife buys fuel at the Medicine Hat and Calgary co-ops—that a not insignificant infusion of cash back on equity repayments doesn't hurt. That's a fundamental part of our model. It's the backbone of what we call our “lifetime membership benefits program”. It's extremely important, as is the democratic participation for certain individuals, as they mature in the cooperative.
I dare say that individual members of the cooperative, when they first join, aren't motivated by the fact that they can come to a meeting.