"If co-operatives use methods and techniques that are not consistent with co-operative purpose, it is not surprising if co-operatives begin to resemble their mainstream counterparts for good or for ill. Challenge is to examine all management skills with a view to determining whether they are consistent with co-operative purpose."

Peter Davis

 

"There is a strong tendency on the part of the spokesperson of the simple interest co-operatives to be suspicious of the motives of other simple interest co-operatives--a tendency to view consumer co-operatives as having interests antagonistic or contrary to producer co-operatives and vice versa. … Can the co-operative movement articulate a model of development within which the interests of workers, consumers and producers are mutual?"

Sid Pobihushchy

 

"We might hypothesize that the increasing tendency of co-operatives to adopt "dubious" business practices will weaken the members liking for co-ops, while whilst at the same time decreasing dislike for the specific practices involved and for competing businesses."

Robert Briscoe in
Traders and Idealists


 

Consultants and Associates
 

Consultants

J. Tom Webb
Born and raised in Northeastern Nova Scotia, a region that suffers from chronic unemployment and out migration, Tom has had a life long interest in regional development and social justice. With a BA from St. Francis Xavier University and an MA from Carleton, he worked as a welfare worker for the city of Ottawa before joining the Government of Canada in 1971. He held various positions in Government including Special Assistant to the President of the Privy Council, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister and Special Advisor to the Minister of Regional Economic Expansion. Upon leaving government he worked as Program Officer with the Vanier Institute of the Family, and later as a consultant to governments and various local and national co-operatives and credit unions. In 1986 he became Manager of Member Relations and later Manager of Government and Corporate Communications with Co-op Atlantic, Atlantic Canada's regional wholesale, retail and agricultural co-operative central. From 1993 to September 1999 he was Director of the St.FX University Extension Department. St.FX Extension has a long history of involvement in adult education, co-operatives and credit unions and distance and continuing education. Mr. Webb is presently working as a consultant to co-operatives across North America and abroad.