Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  There have been a lot of resources available. There's support from their co-op associations. Co-op federations sometimes will assist. There's a lot in terms of setting up your governance model, training on what a co-op is and what your roles and responsibilities are. Peter talked about it really well in terms of separating the functions.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Oh, absolutely, and that's the awareness-raising. We feel that if we can educate our young people from a very early age about what a co-op is, maybe they'll pursue careers in cooperatives and learn about cooperatives. They might become lawyers and accountants who know about cooperatives.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Or tax experts—the whole realm of things, right? They might become leaders within their own cooperatives, or politicians. So there is definitely value. It is a stand-alone program. It's a series of five lessons, and at the end they've actually built their own co-op. That's the process they go through.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, there is. But again, it comes back to that whole vernacular thing. It's not often in the language of business developers. They don't understand the co-op model, so they won't recommend it. They won't advise people that it might be the most appropriate model for them to use.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  For sure. Certainly, I think that when you go to a lender, they're going to look at the business case and they're going to analyze it based on the business case. Certainly, that does exist. Where I think the difference lies is when you have a conventional small business starting.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I think co-ops are businesses at their core. So they need to access the same programs that businesses access. But in addition to the whole business element that co-ops have, they also have this whole governance and social development and community development aspect. That's where we need to see specific supports to cooperatives to assist that kind of development.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  From the Manitoba Cooperative Association's perspective, we do have a very supportive and good relationship with our provincial government, as we've seen increased support for co-ops at the provincial level. That being said, it only came about because of the increased capacity that the sectors saw with the announcement of the CDI and its launch back in 2003 and subsequent funding flowing to Manitoba in 2005.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  It is a non-profit cooperative housing project primarily being financed with help from the Province of Manitoba. I'm not up on all the details, because it is a bit of a moving target. But I believe that there is going to be a portion of mixed equity. Some will be equity units and some will be non-equity, to have the mixed income.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I don't work a lot with the francophone municipalities in Manitoba. Our partner, CDEM, does the work in the francophone communities. That being said, certainly some of the francophone co-ops do come to MCA for some of the grants that we administer in partnership with CDEM, and one of the examples that I gave, the Compo-Stages Manitoba Services Co-op, works in the francophone community.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I would agree with that, but I'd also comment that in addition to having the business element of a co-op, there is the whole other piece around the governance.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  But business development, absolutely.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Certainly there are a number of educational institutions that do offer cooperative education. The relationship we've forged with the University of Winnipeg is with their faculty of business and economics. So it is within the business school. We've also established relations with the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, where they've introduced some cases in their MBA program on cooperatives.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Perhaps, yes.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  There's a lot of opportunity within our economy to grow cooperative enterprises. Because of the track record of cooperatives—and we've seen their success rate—and the strength of the movement, we know it is a successful model that works in our economy. That being said, co-ops take a lot more support to start up.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  As an organization?