On Co-op's Government Relations Committee to refocus efforts

July 20, 2010

On Co-op’s Government Relations Committee has been re-evaluating its advocacy strategy over the past 6 years. While the co-op sector in Ontario has come a long way in raising much-needed awareness for Ontario’s co-operatives and credit unions in general, the true value of having a more collaborative relationship with the province has not been understood or accepted; little has happened since the Resolution calling for the establishment of a provincial Co-operatives Secretariat was unanimously passed in the legislature on December 14th, 2006.

A recently developed sub-committee will help reframe the key messaging and focus of co-op advocacy efforts. While the push for a Co-op Secretariat will continue as the ultimate goal, we will request that the province work with us to create an environment that is more favourable to co-operatives and credit unions. We will ask that co-ops be put on an equal footing as other forms of business enterprise, through initiatives such as improving the current regulatory environment and creating financial measures to encourage investment in co-ops.

The sub-committee has devised a province-wide petition, asking all employees and members of Ontario’s 1,300 co-operatives to sign and support these initiatives. They will also work on devising a pre-election campaign strategy, with the hope that all Ontario co-ops and credit unions will become actively engaged in advocating their local MPPs to consider such a collaboration – whether by attending an all-candidates meeting, or by inviting their MPP to tour their co-op and take a photo op, for example.

While the sub-committee will help to steer this momentum, the real work must be done by the co-op sector – MPPs want to talk to their constituents, so let’s work co-operatively to get government to listen More about On Co-op's government relations work at www.ontario.coop/government.

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