Mr. Speaker, in 2012, the government ended the $4 million co-operative development initiative, the only national program for co-ops.
In January 2013, the government announced a $400 million venture capital action plan. To date, the investment funds that have received contributions under this program have not made any investments in co-ops.
Also, Futurpreneur Canada receives $10 million annually to fund business ventures by young entrepreneurs; however, it cannot provide capital to young co-operators.
Why is the playing field so uneven? Why are these two federal programs not allowed to provide funds to help create co-operative businesses?