Co-Operative Canada ─ Empowering Communities and Sustainable Businesses

A shift in US bank policy. A demonstration in Greece. A tsunami in Japan. These types of events can have profound effects on the economic well-being of Canadian communities. In such a heavily globalized environment, it may seem that only large corporations with access to transnational resources can operate successfully, but Canadian co-operatives demonstrate that this is not the case. Drawing on the results of a large research project that examined co-operatives in communities from coast to coast to coast,Co-operative Canada reveals how Canadians are collectively responding to the forces of globalization through local, community-owned enterprises.

Brett Fairbairn is a professor in the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan specializing in democratic governance and history. He is also a fellow in Co-operative Thought and Ideas at the University's Centre for the Study of Co-operatives. Nora Russell is the publications/communications officer at the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan.