This committee is a good start, in terms of it opening up the dialogue. It's important that our federal government hears from the cooperative sector and understands the needs of emerging co-ops. From my perspective, I mentioned a few things in my comments about ongoing support for start-ups, and the special needs they have in terms of group development, bringing awareness to the cooperative model, and making sure that co-ops can access all programs. I think capitalization is another big issue that needs to be addressed.
On July 27th, 2012. See this statement in context.