The Canadian Co-operative Association hopes next year brings long-awaited news of a federal tax credit scheme for co-op investment.
“It is a good time for the co-op sector,” CCA government affairs and public policy director John Anderson said following a national co-op meeting in Halifax.
“The co-op model is back again with new generations and new challenges, so it’s generally a good time for the sector.”
That leads sector leaders to dream that their long-cherished plan of winning federal approval for a Cooperative Investment Plan may emerge as reality in 2012.
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A co-op investment tax credit, which already exists in Quebec, would offer a tax credit for members and employees who invest in co-ops.
The House of Commons finance committee has several times embraced the idea as a relatively inexpensive way for the government to encourage working capital investment in co-operatives.
Anderson said next year is significant because it is the International Year of the Co-operative.
“We’re very hopeful, particularly in a period of budgetary restraint, that this is a policy the government will re-examine because it leverages investment with no explicit government financial requirement except a tax credit,” he said.
“I am hopeful something will happen in 2012, the year of co-ops that the government supports. With a majority in Parliament and co-op activities across the country, I hope the government will see fit to move next year.”
Anderson said the sector will argue that co-operatives weathered the recession better than many investor-owned businesses because they are not as profit driven and are rooted in their communities with member loyalty.
“It is a strong part of the community and showed itself more resilient in the face of recession than other sectors,” he said.
“It is something the government could support with little financial obligation and a lot of payback.”
One of the biggest challenges facing co-operatives has been their inability to attract capital investment that can be used to finance new projects.
The co-op sector argues that Quebec’s investment tax credit proves that several million dollars in tax credit revenue loss for the government can leverage tens of millions of dollars of investment into an economic system that includes 18 million Canadian members and more than $300 billion in assets.
Meanwhile, talks continue between CCA and its French language counterpart about ending a century of separate organizations. They already share the same headquarters in Ottawa.
