Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  There are two parts to that answer. Firstly, let's consider the local aspect. As far as innovation goes, we're dealing with sectors where the cooperative movement used to have no presence. That means sectors such as wind energy in Ontario and home health care services for Canada'

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  I just want to add one thing. Mr. Bélanger mentioned the Federation of Funeral Cooperatives of Québec, which I am the president of. All of the funeral cooperatives are Desjardins caisse customers. So the caisses agreed to finance our network and the individual funeral cooperative

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  We submitted a brief on mutualization to the finance minister. We are against insurance company demutualization in Canada. And if it were to ever happen, we would want the minister to make certain that the collective wealth that has been built up over a period of more than 160 ye

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Not at all.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  It's about 15%.

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Yes, it would be my pleasure. There are 26 cooperatives in Quebec, and 15 members outside Quebec. The cooperatives have a large presence in Prince Edward Island. In fact, the province has seven funeral cooperatives. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have some as well. As you said, o

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Overall, Quebec's mutuals are in excellent financial health, whether we're talking about the Promutuel network, which you mentioned, La Capitale, SSQ, Mutual Management Corporation or the others. There are more than 50 of them in Quebec, and over 100 across Canada. Obviously the

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Many Canadian laws have an impact on cooperatives. Last April, accounting firm Malette published a study pointing to major disparities in the tax treatment of Quebec cooperatives compared with traditional businesses. The study showed that owing to a failure of the integration pr

Special Committee on Cooperatives committee  Okay. So we'll go with the recommendations.