By Kenzie Love
Declining institutional trust is a well-documented problem around the world today, and Canada is no exception. The sense is not just of existential threats to society — income inequality, the climate crisis, political polarization, and others — but of a lack of faith in many of the institutions tasked with addressing these challenges. Recent research in Canada by Abacus Data (led by Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada), however, suggests that co-ops may be an exception to this rule. Canadians believe in them, want more of them, and want to belong to them.
Taking action on these findings is, of course, more complex than receiving them. But exploring the sentiments expressed is nonetheless an important first step in strengthening the role of co-ops, including worker co-ops, within Canada’s economy and society. Here’s a look at what the research found and where things might go from here.
Canadians believe in co-ops
Eighty-one percent (81%) of Canadians believe co-ops are part of the solution to Canada’s biggest challenges, like affordability and inequality. The thinking behind this is understandable. In a time of high inflation, co-ops can be expected to offer, if not the cheapest goods or services, then at least better value for money. Moreover, the money co-ops receive from purchases goes to their members rather than faraway investors, and thus keeps jobs and money within the surrounding communities, another important value for Canadians.
Canadians want more co-ops
Seven in ten Canadians (71 %) say they would like to see more co-operatives operating in Canada. While there are, of course, barriers to the growth of the worker co-op sector, among them a lack of government support, this finding suggests that a lack of awareness, repeatedly cited as the top issue in the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives’ annual survey, may be less of an obstacle than commonly thought. Canadians may not know or understand all the details of how a co-op works, but this is likely also true of conventional corporations. What matters is that, based on what they do know, Canadians have a favourable opinion.
Canadians want to belong to co-ops
Research that finds people want more of some type of public infrastructure can often be influenced by NIMBYism (“Not In My Back Yard”), people who are supportive of something in principle but end up opposed to it in practice when too close to home. But when it comes to co-ops, this sentiment is likely to hold less traction, precisely because the fact that co-ops can be found in one’s “backyard” is in fact one of their selling points. Worker co-ops are controlled not by foreign investors or giant corporations, but by the people who work for them, people who thus have the same stake in the surrounding area as others who live there. And as the Abacus poll found, Canadians’ support for co-ops is not a passive or theoretical attitude: one-third already belong to a co-op, and another third would like to belong to one.
As research further found, co-ops aren’t seen as a niche or partisan issue: support for them cuts across political and geographic lines. In an increasingly partisan political landscape, an issue such as this, which that can unite rather than divide, is rare.
Whether politicians will seize the opportunity that support for co-ops provides remains to be seen, with some commentators believing that they’d prefer to focus on constant economic growth. The research suggests, however, that they’d be wise to focus on Canadians’ real priorities: shared ownership, shared responsibility, and shared stability.