Robb on Cooperation

St Mary’s 1, Canterbury 0

Posted by Alan Robb on 22 September 2009 | 0 Comments

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This will be my last report from the University of Canterbury. It is very disappointing to have to announce that the postgraduate paper on cooperatives will not be offered in 2007, despite it having been popular with students since it began six years ago.

The reason is simply staffing. Neil Crombie, who ably ran the course when I was on leave and was my co-supervisor, is in the process of completing his doctorate and priority is, understandably, being given that worthy objective.

It is hoped that students will again be able to include cooperative studies in 2008, but the format will be different. A decision has been made to replace the full year (26 week) paper with two one semester (13 week) papers. This will mean that students no longer do a research project in the second half of the year. That, in my view is a retrograde step.

The decision to semesterize both undergraduate and graduate papers is also something that concerns me greatly. When I attended a cooperatives conference in Wales last September, I learned that a number of UK universities which semesterized 12 years ago are now moving back to full year papers. They have found that the short duration of semesters does not allow students’ understanding of a topic to mature. Consequently there has been a dumbing down of material in order to keep pass rates up. I foresee that the same situation is likely to occur here.

Now to look on the brighter side. It is pleasing to be able to report that my involvement with Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia is progressing well. I am supervising a research project which Tom Webb inaugurated some months ago. The project is on the theme Cooperative Accountability and Identity. The researcher employed by the programme has produced two draft reports which I have reviewed.

The report I wish to comment on here comprises an analysis of the financial statements of the 253 cooperatives registered in Nova Scotia. The majority of the cooperatives — 168 or 66% — are consumer cooperatives; 41 or 16% are producer cooperatives; and 44 or 17% are worker cooperatives. The consumer cooperative category includes 80 property owning housing cooperatives.

What surprised me on first seeing this report is how strong the cooperative movement is. The population of Nova Scotia is a little less than 1 million and they have 253 cooperatives. New Zealand now has a population of just over 4 million; but do we have four times the number of cooperatives as Nova Scotia? I think not.

About 36% of the Nova Scotia cooperatives are small, with assets of under C$100,000. On the other hand 23% are large and have assets of over C$1,000,000.

The second surprise was to learn that the Canadian Cooperatives Act (1998) and the Nova Scotia Cooperative Associations Act (1989, amended 2001) allow for the incorporation of a cooperative without member shares. This is considerably different from the New Zealand scene, and others with which I am familiar. I am seeking more information on this and will share it with you in future columns.●

— from the December 2006/January 2007 Cooperatives News