News Release

The Government of Canada invests in Co-operative Development in Quebec

La Pocatière, Quebec, March 26, 2010 - The Government of Canada is helping to create and develop co-operatives in Quebec, thus contributing to community economic development. Bernard Généreux, Member of Parliament for Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister of State (Agriculture), today announced $223,450 to nine projects funded through the Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI).

"Co-operatives have long contributed to local economic development, especially in rural and remote areas, where they create jobs and provide essential goods and services," said Mr. Généreux. "The Canadian co-operative sector has proven to be an effective means of strengthening our economy".

Mr. Généreux was in La Pocatière today, where he made the announcement with representatives of two organizations who received funding in the region for a total amount of $53,900. The Coopérative d'utilisation de la main-d'oeuvre de la Côte-du-Sud (CUMO) aims to recruit members and hire staff to train two new work-sharing groups - one in administration, and the other in childcare/domestic help. CUMO's project will help provide a better quality of life for local farmers, while generating job opportunities.

The Société d'agriculture du Comté de L'Islet aims to create a co-operative of biomass producers that will grow willows on private agricultural lands with the objective of marketing wood chips. The biomass producers' co-operative will include both willow growers and buyers of wood chips and pellets. The members of the co-operative will be responsible for organizing willow production on under-used, abandoned or uncultivated lands in the regional county municipalities of L'Islet and Montmagny.

"These two co-operative initiatives, like the seven other projects funded in Quebec, use the co-operative model to encourage community economic development," said Mr. Généreux. "Co-operatives foster leadership, autonomy and control at the local level."

The nine projects were funded under the CDI, a four-year, $19.1-million program that helps Canadians develop new co-operatives and experiment with innovative ways of using the co-operative model. This initiative has been successful in making the co-operative option readily available to Canadians by improving access to advisory services, helping co-operatives raise the funds they need to succeed, and advancing research and knowledge development. The CDI is managed by the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité in partnership with the Government of Canada.

To learn more about the Co-operative Development Initiative, please refer to the Backgrounder.

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For more information, contact:

Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613-773-7972
1-866-345-7972

Sophie Doucet
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn
613-992-3465

Isabelle Lamontagne
Communications Advisor
Rural and Co-operatives Secretariat
Office: 418-648-3723
Cellular: 418-952-8949

Annie Francoeur
Regional Director for MP Bernard Généreux
418-868-1280

Information on project funding

Coopérative d'utilisation de main-d'oeuvre (CUMO) agricole de la Côte-du-Sud
Location: La Pocatière, Quebec
Funding: $18,900
Description: Founded notably to counter the farm labour shortage, develop jobs in agriculture and improve farmers' quality of life, this co-operative wishes to diversity its activities. In order to remain competitive and recruit new members, this farm labour supply co-op hopes to offer producers new services in administration, childcare and housekeeping, thereby allowing them to spend more time with their families.

Société d'agriculture du Comté de l'Islet (SACLI)
Location: Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec
Funding: $35,000
Description: The goal of this project is to create a co-operative of biomass producers that will organize willow production on private farmland and market wood chips. This co-operative will comprise both willow growers and buyers of wood chips and pellets. Its members will be responsible for organizing willow production on lands that are under-used, abandoned or fallow in the regional county municipalities of l'Islet and Montmagny.

Coopérative de solidarité de la Réserve mondiale de la biosphère du Lac-Saint-Pierre
Location: Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec
Funding: $27,700
Description: This co-operative was founded in 2000 with the goal of developing local food products with a view to marketing them internationally within the world biosphere reserve network. This project aims to develop sustainable food- and agro-tourism in the region.

Comité des Organismes Sociaux de Saint-Laurent (COSSL)
Location: Saint-Laurent, Quebec
Funding: $20,000
Description: This project aims to create a greenhouse-production multi-stakeholder co-operative comprising workers and youth re-entering the workforce as well as residents of the Hodge-Place Benoît neighbourhood in Montreal. The co-operative is part of the strategy to revitalize one of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the Saint-Laurent district of Montreal.

Coop de solidarité santé TémiscaVie
Location: Ville-Marie, Quebec
Funding: $7,300
Description: An analysis of health determinants in the Ville-Marie region has shown that a prevalence of health problems is linked to insufficient physical activity. After having established a medical clinic, this co-operative hopes to set up a fitness centre to reduce the strain on front-line health services.

Coopérative de solidarité en développement durable de Bellechasse, La Mauve
Location: St-Vallier, Quebec
Funding: $7,000
Description: This co-operative processes and markets the products of over 35 members from the Chaudière-Appalaches region. The project will contribute to the development of a grain supply chain by using innovative, high-performance organic farming techniques to produce and market value-added products

Développement Économique Opitciwan Inc. (non-profit)
Location: Obedjiwan, Quebec
Funding: $53,550
Description: This organization is proposing the creation of several co-operatives in the Atikamekw Aboriginal community to support the renewed activities of the Coopérative forestière inter-nations. In addition to stimulating this co-operative's activities, the project aims to support the creation of a worker-shareholder co-operative to maximize the economic benefits of forestry resources.

Coopérative de travailleurs Unitek
Location: Forestville, Quebec
Funding: $30,000
Description: This co-operative has proven itself by manufacturing high-grade marine fertilizer using a unique process that maximizes fertilizing properties. The co-operative now hopes to study the possibility of diversifying itself by becoming a multi-stakeholders co-operative that will collect used oil and marine waste to produce biodiesel.

Fédération des coopératives funéraires du Quebec (FCFQ)
Location: Sherbrooke, Quebec
Funding: $24,000
Description: This organization is an industry pioneer in Canada. It has provided coaching to groups interested in creating funeral co-operatives and has opened its doors to funeral co-operatives from outside of Quebec. This project aims to develop tools to meet the needs of both existing co-operatives and groups who wish to start funeral co-operatives in their communities.

Backgrounder

Co-operative Development Initiative

The Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI) is a government of Canada program delivered in partnership with the two national organizations of the co-operative sector, which are the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité. CDI is designed to help people develop co-operatives and to test innovative ways of using the co-operative model. CDI makes the co-operative option more readily available to Canadians, to respond to their present-day challenges.

Since it was established in 2003, CDI has supported over 1,500 co-op projects and helped to create over 200 new co-operatives. The program has also allowed for testing new kinds of co-operatives and undertaking research projects to understand how co-operatives can contribute to regional economic development. The Agriculture component of CDI, put in place in 2006, was responsible for the creation of over 60 value-added agricultural co-operatives. This component has now been integrated to the CDI program.

Description of CDI

The program has three interrelated components:

The Advisory Services component is delivered by the co-operative sector through a network of co-operative development experts established across the country. The objective is to provide access to professional and technical services needed for the successful launch or strengthening of a co-operative. The Advisory Services component is managed jointly by the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité.

The Research and Knowledge Development component is designed to undertake, support and share strategic applied research that will advance co-operative development and growth. This component is completely managed by the Governement of Canada.

The Innovative Co-operative Projects component provides funding to innovative projects that respond to public policy priority areas and generate best practices and learning. The policy priorities to be addressed through the Innovative Co-operative Projects are:

• agriculture, including farmer-driven value-added agriculture and biofuels;
• rural/northern community development;
• innovative goods and services, including innovative technologies; and
• capacity building and sustainability of the co-operative sector in Canada.

The upper limit of funding for Innovative Co-operative Projects is $75,000 per year per project. The minimum proponent contribution for Innovative Co-operative Projects is 25% per individual project. The Innovative Co-operative Projects component is delivered jointly by the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité.