| WHY:
Across Ontario worker co-ops are developing and growing to provide employment and services which are based on fairness and rooted in community.
• In southern Ontario fair trade is being developed to provide a market for the millions of producers in developing countries who are being pushed into destitution by the predatory practices of the transnational coffee, cocoa, tea, and sugar companies.
• In the northwest the world's largest abandoned open pit mine, left as an environmental disaster area by the mining companies, has been converted into an ecological asset by a co-operative fish farm on the emerging self-contained lake.
• On the Bruce peninsula, first nation fishers and community members have organized Giigooghkea co-operative which is developing the Nawash/Saugeen fishery into an economic base for their community by processing value-added fish products.
These and other initiatives provide sustainable jobs and economic development in their communities. People who organize these businesses develop them as co-operatives because they want a business structure which benefits the whole community rather than just a few owners.
Within the co-op movement, we are continuously being presented with similar co-operative economic development opportunities by people who are dedicated to doing what is best for their communities. But no matter how dedicated, hard-working, and skilled folks are, most of these opportunities and their resulting jobs and broader community benefits are limited or lost because conventional investment capital is not available to co-op business.
Almost all Canadian investment is controlled by the banks and stock markets. You may be investing via your broker or financial advisor, but the investment options which you are given are structured by these stock markets and financial institutions. Although there are some 7,800 co-operatives in Canada, some of which are among the largest 100 corporations, none of their shares and securities will be presented to you by your financial planner as an investment option.
The reason is that co-op businesses do not participate in stock markets. Co-ops put people first and are structured to prevent the speculative control and capital gain focus which underlies all investment markets. Although this co-op principle provides a lot of human benefit, it excludes co-ops from the conventional investment market. Consequently most co-op business initiatives are limited by a lack of investment capital.
But you can support fair trade, economic democracy and the development of a co-operative economy by investing directly in shares of co-operative businesses. Co-op share investment also can be done through your RRSP so that you can retain its tax shelter protection. You can invest in good and receive a fair return.
To get more information on co-op investment opportunities contact our co-op business development organization -
email equalnomics@web.ca
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HOW:
Support worker co-ops by buying their products and services. Spread the word about co-ops.
Contribute to the Worker Owner Development Foundation (WODF), a charitable foundation whose purpose to foster more public awareness and growth of worker co-ops and economic democracy.
Specifically its charitable purposes include:
• Research to determine measures to facilitate the growth of worker co-ops and other forms of economic democracy.
• Provision of information, referrals, and public speakers to the public.
• Providing educational materials about worker co-ops.
The WODF was incorporated and registered in 1983 and continues to be a vehicle through which public education programs about worker co-ops are developed.
As a charitable foundation, the WODF can receive donations to further the cause of worker ownership and economic democracy and provide donors with a tax receipt for the donation.
To contribute or more information:
email equalnomics@web.ca
or info@ontarioworker.coop
Make a Charitable Donation to the OWCF or for more information
email info@ontarioworker.coop
or phone: 1-519-763-8271, X25
OWCF helps in the development of new and existing worker co-ops. It also lobbies governments on behalf of established worker co-ops, and disburses information about the benefits and goals of cooperatively owned businesses.
As a member worker owner, invest in yourself and your co-op through the CWCF-Co-operative Trust Company's RRSP program. The program facilitates the members of a worker co-operative to invest the shares of their worker co-operative in the individual members self-directed RRSP set up under the RRSP Program
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