We need your support to put Ontario’s co-operatives and credit unions on the forefront of the government’s agenda!

After 6 years of educating MPPs on the co-operative model of business enterprise, the successes and challenges facing Ontario co-operatives, and asking government to establish a provincial Co-operatives Secretariat, On Co-op is now requesting the support of the entire co-operative sector in Ontario with its latest advocacy effort… a Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

The Petition’s Main Ask

On Co-op has broadened their “ASK” to encourage the creation of various policy initiatives that would benefit the entire co-operative sector and the province in general; the petition requests that the province “create an environment that encourages the development of co-operatives, allowing them to compete on equal footing with other forms of business enterprise.”

Initiatives to achieve this include: updating the regulatory environment to enable co-ops to be more competitive; encouraging investment in co-ops by developing tax incentives and other financial measures; and establishing a Co-op Secretariat to work closely with government, as a means towards job creation and fostering local economic development.

How Can You Help?

Please help us reach our goal. Participating in the petition initiative is an easy and uncomplicated way to get involved and show your support… and it will only take a few minutes of your time! Here are the simple steps to participate:

1. Download the Petition from the top right of this page.
2. Print out a hard copy (or several copies as required).
3. Clearly print your name and address and sign your name in the spaces provided.
4. Collect as many signatures as possible, by asking all the other staff at your organization to sign it.
5. Distribute the petition to your contacts and networks as much as possible: post it to your organizational website and any other social media you may use; include it in your electronic newsletters; bring it to your board and committee meetings; place copies near your cash registers and at all your branches/locations and ask your members to sign it; take copies with you to your meetings, events and conferences you attend; and the list goes on!
6. Once the petition is as complete as possible, make a copy for yourself and send the original version back to On Co-op in the mail.

The petition is a way to make the co-op voice heard loud and clear in government!