Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise today to speak on a bill that is so important for the health and prosperity of the Canadian economy, especially as far as rural and remote communities are concerned.
I want to talk about co-operatives in sectors like agriculture, fisheries and forestry, co-operatives providing energy to remote communities and serving aboriginal communities.
As of 1995 there were over 617,000 members of agricultural co-operatives in Canada. These co-ops were responsible for almost $16.3 billion in sales. Types of co-ops in the agricultural sector include marketing co-ops which account for 34% of the membership and realize 73% of the revenue. They are responsible for marketing some 57% of the market share in dairy products, 59% in the grains and oilseed sector and 47% in the poultry and egg sector.
Take for example the Agropur co-operative in Granby, Quebec. It is currently the largest producer and distributor of fancy cheese and whey in Canada. It is represented in the yogurt and fresh deserts sector by Ultima Foods Inc., a company co-owned by Agropur and Agrifoods International Co-operative Limited, of British Columbia. In 1995, Agropur's sales figure exceeded $1 billion. It has 4,500 members and 2,200 employees.
Agricultural co-ops also include those involved in production and services. One of the most successful producer co-ops is the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the largest co-op in Canada. It was formed by farmers in 1924 to handle their wheat harvest. It has come a long way.
In 1995 it had annual sales of almost $3 billion and handled 60% of the total grain movement in the province. In recent years it has successfully diversified into valued added processing, bakery supply and manufacturing, fertilizer manufacturing, an ethanol plant, biotechnology development and a host of other areas.
We can see the impact of co-operatives in the energy sector in Alberta. At one time the rural electrification program carried out by co-operatives in Alberta accounted for almost 90% of the electricity supplied to the province's farmers.
Those co-ops are fewer in number today. Many of them have sold their assets and responsibilities to power companies, but even while the number of co-ops in Alberta's electricity grid is decreasing the importance of natural gas co-ops to supply Alberta farms is increasing. In 1995 these co-operatives accounted for over 54% of the total sales of energy co-operatives in Canada.
Consumer co-operatives are also having an influence on the rural economy. Federated Co-operatives Limited, a federally regulated co-operative, is the second largest Canadian co-operative in terms of revenue.
In 1995 it earned $2.1 billion in sales. It is a supply, production and services co-operative that provides retail co-ops with food, petroleum, seed, hardware and building products, crop supplies, livestock feed and family fashions. It also provides a number of support services such as training, as well as computer, audit, advertising, legal and communication services. It owns the Consumers Co-operative Refineries Limited of Regina, seven feed plants, a plywood plant, a sawmill and the Grocery People Limited retail chain.
In the fishery sector co-operatives have managed through the tough times since the 1992 cod moratorium. Their strength lies in their people. During tough times these people stand together behind their co-op. We have a situation, for example, where despite the moratorium there are still over 9,000 members of fishing co-operatives. We can find a number of success stories in the fishing sector.
In Prince Edward Island the Tignish Fisheries Co-operative Limited has be canning lobster since 1925. It has 250 employees and in 1995 had $14 million in sales. As production moves from canning to specialty packaging the co-op expects that it will need to hire more people and keep them working longer.
Forestry co-operatives are enjoying phenomenal success. Their membership has increased by more than 63% between 1985 and 1995, and their revenue has gone up 247%.
They are doing particularly well in Quebec. In the Saguenay—Lac-St-Jean region, for instance, the Co-opérative forestière Laterrière-Saint-Honoré has a payroll of some $5.4 million and sales of $30 million. It is involved in forest management, logging, and production of seedlings, as well as sawmill and planing operations.
I would also like to mention the important place that co-operatives have in the economy of aboriginal communities. By 1995 there were 76 aboriginal co-operatives in Canada. They are especially strong in the Northwest Territories and northern Quebec. In fact these co-operatives have more than 20,000 members.
Co-operatives are big business for the rural economy and in communities far from urban centres without losing sight of the community values that led to their creation in the first place. They are big businesses that pursue the interest of their members as a whole. They are big businesses that have shown Canadians another way to operate in a market economy.
The future of co-operatives in Canada is integral to the future of the economy in rural and remote areas. The bill before us gives these organizations the tools they need to keep on contributing to the economic growth of Canada.
The co-operative movement has a long and distinguished history of helping people in smaller communities. It goes back 150 years to when the first modern co-op was formed by the weavers of the village of Rochdale in Britain. By the turn of the century there were thousands of co-operatives throughout Europe and a growing co-op movement in Canada. The movement gained momentum with the birth of the prairie wheat pools at the beginning of this century.
But the economy is evolving, and the tools available to co-operatives must evolve in turn. The Canadian Co-operative Association and the Conseil canadien de la co-opération submitted the model legislation, which includes the amendments they would like to see incorporated in the draft bill. The Minister of Industry and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food have examined it carefully and have circulated a working document containing their analysis.
In the best tradition of the co-operative movement this bill comes from the people. It is not a top down statute designed by government departments to remedy perceived problems. It is a bill created by the very people who know best what they need to maintain a healthy and vibrant co-op movement for the future.
I emphasize that the bill is entirely in keeping with the government's own stated aims and objectives. I see the bill as a key element in the government's commitment to strengthen the rural economy. It is a commitment we made in the Speech from the Throne when the government made the economic renewal of rural Canada a priority for this session of Parliament.
The government said it would address the problems facing rural Canadians in a way that is tailored to their needs.
The bill gives them these tools. I urge the House to pass it.