Yawen Luo
The co-operative model has long been used to provide childcare services in Canada and other countries and may offer a solution to the long waiting lists and the high cost of childcare that have frustrated parents with young children and deterred them from returning to work. Continue reading
Dionne Pohler
Image credit below
Across Canada and the United States, major banks are facing public scrutiny after media reports that employees feel intense pressure to mislead customers in order to meet unrealistic sales targets and avoid losing their jobs. Is this an opportunity for credit unions to show that they treat their members — their customers — differently? Continue reading
Danielle Potter
Source: Website of the Rocky Rural Electrification Association (http://www.rockyrea.com/about/history)
In his Fredeen Scholarship seminar, Eric Neudorf outlined how Alberta’s private power companies in the 1940s were able to change the regulatory landscape in a way that profoundly disadvantaged the rural electrical associations, with the result that today they are having difficulty surviving. How did this happen? Continue reading
Murray Fulton, Brett Fairbairn, and Dionne Pohler
Co-operatives have an important role to play in the economy. Understanding this role is particularly important when markets are undergoing major changes — as in the case of privatization.
The privatization of liquor retailing stores in Saskatchewan provides an excellent example of the need to understand the role co-operatives play in creating well-functioning markets. In this post, we revisit the argument we made in a recent StarPhoenix/Leader-Post op-ed piece and suggest that, according to its privatization announcement, the Saskatchewan government fails to understand this role. Continue reading