Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I'll just add that for us at UFA, we have dedicated accountants at an accounting firm who certainly understand cooperatives. But in my farming other life with other cooperatives, some of the accountants who you might have in a local accounting firm, for instance, struggle with so

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Very quickly, we certainly invest in cooperative management programs. There's the CMEC program in Dalhousie, I believe. We have a co-op chair in Alberta. We have a Goldeye Centre's program for youth. We have been doing that on an ongoing basis. We're always trying to develop at t

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I'm a farmer and I live in rural Alberta. I certainly see the stress that exists in rural Canada. I think everyone in this room, regardless of other thinking, needs to think of ways whereby we're going to sustain rural Canada. I don't have any problem with making the same thing

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We just went through a capital structure review, and I was part of the committee. Part of it is internal, maintaining your cooperative identity and perhaps going outside of a traditional model, finding something that preserves your cooperative identity and yet lets you access cap

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I don't really have a number. I think the number of $4 million or something a year to me is a very reasonable number. In reality, I don't know whether it's going to break the budget one way or the other. I'm putting it back down to the project rather than the overall number tha

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I should come clean that I'm actually the vice-president of the Canadian Co-operative Association, as well, so I don't.... In my remarks, I said that we're not here to talk about the CDI. I understand the theory that these programs come to a conclusion and that it's time to ass

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  That was the reason that we had the two points in there, the business environment for the existing cooperatives and then the new ones. We recognize that there are new emerging cooperatives. This is personal, but I think you have an obligation when you've reached success—whether

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Well, it's the dialogue that we discussed. It's about having a dialogue about what's the best business atmosphere—not just for our cooperative but for beginning cooperatives as well—that there's not a disadvantage to being a cooperative, and the understanding of that. Certainly,

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and members of the special committee on cooperatives. My name is Bill Dobson, and I am a member of the board of directors of United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Limited, also known as UFA. With me is Bob Nelson, president and chief executive offi

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  UFA governed Alberta until 1935, at which time they were defeated. During this period, UFA's farm supply business was also flourishing. In 1932, it was felt that the formation of a centralized cooperative would be the most effective way of serving the needs of agriculture in Albe