Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The United Nation’s general assembly on December 18, 2009,
passed a resolution declaring 2012 the United Nation’s International Year of Co-operatives.
A co-op is a business owned by its customers or its workers. Besides saving money for their members, co-ops are attractive to people who like the idea of a business being owned and managed by its members.
Co-ops have been around for a long time. The first successful co-op was started in Rochdale, England, in the 1840s.
Canadian co-operatives and credit unions have more than 18 million members, and there are about 9,000 diverse kinds of co-ops in Canada. There are:
• more than 2,200 housing co-operatives, home
to about 250,000 people;
• more than 1,300 agricultural co-ops;
• more than 650 retail co-operatives;
• nearly 900 credit unions and caisses populaires,
with close to 11 million members between them;
• about 450 co-ops offering child care or early
childhood education;
• more than 600 workers, that is employee-owned
co-ops, with a total membership of over 13,000; and lastly, but not least,
• more than 100 health care co-operatives.
Co-operatives, including credit unions, have an estimated $252 billion in assets. More than 155,000 people are employed in the co-op sector. The survival rate in co-ops is higher than that of private sector companies. A study in 2008 found that 62 percent of new co-ops are still operating after 10 years, compared with 44 percent for other traditional businesses.
There are a surprising number of co-ops in Yellowknife. We have retail or consumer co-ops: the Yellowknife Co-op, Yellowknife Glass Recyclers Co-op, Arctic Co-operatives, Northern Images and two housing co-ops, Borealis Housing Co-op and Inukshuk Housing Co-op.
In this year of the co-op, I congratulate all NWT co-ops on their success as a business enterprise. I thank them for their service to our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.