The Canadian Co-operative Investment Fund (CCIF) is gaining traction with elected officials and civil servants in Ottawa. This was the hot topic MPs wanted to discuss at the last caucus meeting, and Mr. Davies was asked repeatedly about the options at the government’s disposal to participate.
Since the release of the Business Case, there has been a flurry of meetings around Ottawa with several ministries and agencies. There have been many questions but the Case stands up to scrutiny and has people interested.
The by-product of this interest in the Business Case is that it has created awareness about the lack of appropriate capitalisation tools for co-ops and mutuals at various levels of government. We made important progress in explaining the challenge of accessing capitalizing while at the same time leaving members in control of the business.
CMC will continue to push for support for the Fund leading up to and during the election. The goal is have the CCIF as part of each party platform.
The next steps in business development of the fund will be a continued outreach to potential investors – CMC members, partners, credit unions – in June.