Creating a Canadian Co-operative Capacity Building Program

CMC wishes to see the Government of Canada create a Canadian Co-operative Capacity Building Program that would help co-operatives to either start up, scale up, gain skills and expertise, or prepare for next steps, ensuring they are ready to solve community challenges and meet needs across Canada. 

A tailor-made Canadian Co-operative Capacity Building Program (CCBP), equipped with $30 million in non-repayable federal funding over five years, would support the Canadian co-operative movement as a critical partner to advance economic growth initiatives in all regions. Co-operatives already create opportunity in communities, solve local challenges, enable job creation, promote access to democratic economic opportunities, and are proven to be more resilient in the face of adversity.  

The only recent historical federal investment into non-housing co-operative development was the Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI) from 2003-2013, which ended more than a decade ago. This Program aimed to “enhance the contribution of co-ops to meet the economic needs of Canadians by working collaboratively with local, regional, and national co-operatives, academics and government section stakeholders to create an enabling environment for co-op development and growth “. This Program focused on both “Innovative Co-operative Projects” and “Advisory Services,” with funds eventually being allocated in nearly equal amounts between the two components in the final round of funding.  

The  SME Profile: Co-operatives in Canada, published in 2023, confirms that for-profits co-operatives were, on average, more resilient, more innovative and more locally oriented than traditional SMEs. These favorable attributes are assets for the Canadian economy. However, dedicated funding is required to enable the set-up, growth, and enhanced capacity of co-operative enterprises.  

Co-operative enterprises, especially entities that are smaller and community-driven, struggle to connect to existing federal programs and those of partners, since they are rarely designed or implemented in a way that can a clearly support collective ownership/entrepreneurship.  

Funds could be distributed according to agreed-upon priority groups and regions, and/or proportionally across Canada in a geographic manner that corresponds with the seven regional economic development agencies’ territories. In doing so, successful applicants would be expected to work with their local regional development agencies and co-operative organizations.