"The Cooperative Movement Helps Give Globalization a Human Face"

Notes for an address by the
President of the Privy Council and
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
the Honourable Stéphane Dion

at the opening ceremony of the
Congress and General Assembly of the International Co-operative Alliance

Quebec, Quebec

August 30, 1999

Just to let you know how pleased I am today to be representing the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, here, in Québec, the city where I was born, on the occasion of the 32nd convention of your association, the International Cooperative Alliance, allow me to tell you a true story.

You know that, across the river, in Lévis, there is the head office of one of the most successful cooperatives in the world -- the Mouvement Desjardins. Now, your 32nd convention, the first one to be held in North America, kicks off the festivities marking the centenary of the founding of the first caisse populaire in Lévis. My story shows that the fact that these events are taking place simultaneously is more than a coincidence intended by the organizers of the conference, it is a fitting nod at history because your association helped found the Mouvement Desjardins.

From 1892 to 1917, Alphonse Desjardins worked in Ottawa as a French-language stenographer in the House of Commons. This meant that he could very easily observe Canada's economic and social situation and frequent the Library of Parliament, where he read numerous books on savings and credit. In April 1897, he heard a speech in the House of Commons delivered by Michael Quinn, MP for Montréal-Ste-Anne on usurious practices. It was a speech which made a lasting impression on him. Because Alphonse Desjardins was convinced that in order to provide economic levers to French-Canadians, to the farmer, to the labourer, and to the tradesman to protect them from the usurious practices that were rampant at the time, credit had to be made accessible.

Shortly after hearing Mr. Quinn's speech, Mr. Desjardins came across a book, People's Banks, that inspired him greatly. The author, Henry W. Wolff, was, at the time, president of the ICA. Alphonse Desjardins decided to write to him in London, in 1898, and thanks to Mr. Wolff's assistance, he was able to make contact with the heads of savings and credit cooperatives in Belgium, Italy, France and Switzerland. As historian Yves Roby has noted, those years of study, discussion and regular correspondence with Europe greatly helped Alphonse Desjardins adapt foreign experiments to our reality.

And this is how the Desjardins caisses populaires became the forerunner of North America's credit unions and caisses populaires.

The moral of the story is this: from the beginning, the cooperative movement found international cooperation to be one of its essential strengths. And your association has played a key role in this cooperation.

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. This explains its phenomenal growth during the 19th and 20th century. This is why the small group of roughly 20 people in Rochdale, England, in 1844, who launched the first successful cooperative -- a consumer cooperative -- started one of the most spectacular movements in economic history.  Spectacular, indeed. But just how big is the cooperative movement today? The ICA tells us it is the largest international non-governmental and non-denominational organization in the world, with 242 member organizations from 93 countries, from every continent. Over 749,000 cooperatives, boasting a total membership of 725 million people, are affiliated with these organizations.

In Canada, our 10,000 or so cooperatives comprise 15 million members and employ upwards of 150,000 people. They are present throughout the country. I spoke to you earlier about our gem here in Quebec, the Mouvement Desjardins. But I could go on at length about other success stories in the Quebec cooperative movement, or about the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the largest grain handling enterprise in the country, or about the Antigonish movement in Atlantic Canada, or about the growth being experienced by cooperatives in Canada's North.

We are very proud of the role that the Canadian Cooperative Association and the Conseil canadien de la coopération are playing within your association. Here again, it is indeed entirely fitting and another nod at history that the Canadian cooperative movement as a whole is being represented on the ICA Council by the President of the Mouvement Desjardins, Mr. Claude Béland.

If the cooperative movement has enjoyed such growth in Canada, in your countries and, indeed, throughout the world, it is because the movement responds to the same need everywhere: reconciling social justice with economic growth, by means of mutual assistance and democracy. In the 19th century there was no talk yet of globalization, but the excesses of unbridled capitalism and unemployment caused by the Industrial Revolution led to the creation of the first cooperatives. One needs to recognize that the creation of the first cooperatives was made possible by the freedom of association that comes with political liberalism.

Whether by giving access to credit or housing, helping people save and reinvest in the community or making staple goods more accessible, cooperatives help counter poverty in all its forms and contribute to the sustainable development of our communities.

A veritable school of democracy, cooperatives give their members the opportunity to learn how to negotiate, to lead, to assume responsibilities, to work as part of a group, to cast an equal vote, one person-one vote, with no regard to sex, race, religion or age.

Today, globalization -- with its attendant economic concentration -- is obliging cooperatives to face competition within their sector from firms that have taken on mammoth proportions. What we're seeing here in Canada, as well as in your own countries, is these cooperatives regrouping and establishing strategic alliances with partners outside the cooperative movement. The challenge for them will be to remain competitive while at the same time respecting cooperative ideals. They will meet this challenge and thus help put a human face on globalization.

The UN is fully aware of the situation. As you know, this year it will be discussing a report on the legislative and administrative measures various countries have taken to provide cooperatives with a favourable legal framework.

Canada too is aware of the role cooperatives must play in relation to globalization. That is why Canada's new legislation on cooperatives, given assent on March 31, 1998, provides cooperatives with greater flexibility in accessing capital, while respecting their particular characteristics, including the democratic control exercised by members. Anglophone and Francophone cooperatives from all over Canada worked hand in hand for years to see this new law enacted.

This is also why the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, has used the cooperative model in many of its aid projects throughout the world. One of CIDA's most important partners is the Mouvement Desjardins. The two agencies maintain a close relationship to the extent that CIDA is now a major funding partner of Développement international Desjardins.

A new three-year contribution agreement was reached in April with CIDA's traditional partners, including Développement international Desjardins which will receive $14.2 million.

In conclusion, for more than a century, the cooperative movement has succeeded in balancing social objectives with considerations of profitability. In our global society, it is becoming more important than ever that this success continue, along with the values on which the cooperative movement is based -- community spirit, social inclusiveness and democracy.

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