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Archives - Press Room


MINISTER DION AFFIRMS THAT THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IS MORE NECESSARY THAN EVER BECAUSE IT CAN HELP GIVE GLOBALIZATION A HUMAN FACE

 

 

QUEBEC, QUEBEC, August 30, 1999 – Speaking to the members of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) gathered in Quebec City for their congress, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, insisted on the increasing importance of the cooperative movement in the context of globalization.

The Minister stated that from the beginning, the cooperative movement has found international cooperation to be one of its essential strengths: The cooperative movement is both a very local reality, with deep roots in local communities, and very international, responding to the needs of human beings, regardless of where in the world they may be."

To illustrate the international dimension of the cooperative movement, Mr. Dion mentioned the role that the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) played in the creation of one of the most successful cooperatives in the world: the Mouvement Desjardins. The Minister explained that in 1898, while Alphonse Desjardins was working as a French-language stenographer in the House of Commons, he wrote to Henry W. Wolff, president of the ICA. Thanks to Mr. Wolff's assistance, he was able to make contact with the heads of savings and credit cooperatives in various European countries, which greatly helped Alphonse Desjardins adapt foreign experiments to our reality.

If the cooperative movement has enjoyed such growth, added the Minister, it is because the movement responds to the same need everywhere: reconciling social justice with economic growth, by means of mutual assistance and democracy.

But today, cooperatives face a new challenge, noted Mr. Dion: "(...) remain competitive while at the same time respecting cooperative ideals. They will meet this challenge and thus help put a human face on globalization."

Canada is fully aware of the role cooperatives must play in relation to globalization, stated the Minister who mentioned Canada's new legislation on cooperatives which "provides cooperatives with greater flexibility in accessing capital, while respecting their particular characteristics, including the democratic control exercised by members."

Mr. Dion also underlined the important role played by the cooperative model in many of the Canadian International Development Agency's (CIDA) aid projects throughout the world. CIDA is a "major funding partner of Développement international Desjardins."

"In our global society," the Minister concluded, "it is becoming more important than ever that the cooperative movement's success continue, along with the values on which it is based: community spirit, social inclusiveness and democracy."

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For information:
André Lamarre
Press Secretary
(613) 943-1838
 


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