A small and interesting weekend conference sponsored by VanCity Credit Union and the British Columbia Co-Operative Association, was held November 17 and 18 to explore ways in which more co-operative enterprises might be launched in the Lower Mainland, and how more social enterprises might be created using the co-operative model.

For five years, VanCity and BCCA have sponsored the Bologna Summer Program for Co-operative Studies. In it, students drawn from several sectors of the economy, as well as some political leaders and the occasional journalist (I was invited to tag along in the summer of 2004), spend a week or so in Vancouver attending lectures on the philosophy of co-operative economy, and then spend 10 days or two weeks in Bologna, Italy, attending more lectures, but also visiting the sites of many successful large and small co-operative enterprises and co-operative social service companies. The province in which Bologna is the capital is Emilia-Romagna, in the north east of Italy, and it is the most intensively co-operative economy in Europe, and not co-incidentally, also one of the most prosperous, sustainable, and happiest provinces on that continent, if not the world. Though there is a tonne of literature—not much of it exciting reading—on the meaning of the word “co-operative” as it relates to buildings, social services, and companies, there is one, and really only one, essential difference between a co-operative enterprise and a traditional capitalist enterprise: In the traditional capitalist enterprise, votes at the annual shareholders’ meetings are parceled out according to the size of the investment one has made in the enterprise, while in a co-operative enterprise, such votes are parceled out one per head regardless of one’s size of investment. That’s it, that is the only essential difference, but from that one slight tweaking of one strand of DNA in the genetic code of enterprises, huge differences in performances, goals, achievements, behaviors, effects, and expectations are created.

For example, the Co-operative Auto Network, a highly successful co-operative venture launched in Vancouver in 1997, heard of a problem some members experienced late at night. Cars in the co-op were paid for by members on both a time and a mileage basis, combined. But it was difficult and a little dangerous for members to return cars to their designated parking spots late at night, and then walk home the last three blocks or so in the dark. The solution, the co-op found, was to remove the hourly charge between 11 at night and 7 in the morning. Members could then, at no extra charge, book a car till 7 in the morning, take it home at midnight, leave it in the driveway and get up early in the morning light to return it to its designated spot. Few cars are booked by anyone through the night, so the solution didn’t tie up any cars that were needed by others.

It sounds like a small thing, but it made life so much safer for so many members of the co-op. Had the co-op been instead a traditional capitalist company, and had votes at annual general meetings been parceled out according to one’s size of investment, such a solution would not likely have come about. The largest investor would likely be most interested, if not solely interested, in the biggest possible return on his investment in the company. Only if such a solution as the co-op produced could in some way generate bigger profits would it ever be considered. But the solution of the co-op was clearly a money-loser, even while it was a gain for the users in terms of safety, comfort, and convenience. Because no one could use their investment in the company to swing company policy towards increasing their own profits, the policy instead became one that served everyone’s interests in the most even and democratic way.

The co-operative model, though it comes with its own monumental problems, mostly to do with too much of this thing called democracy, can be applied to just about every industry and every human need now served by traditional capitalist enterprises through to government-operated services, more effectively, for less cost, and with much better results.

This is the abiding belief of everyone taking part in the weekend conference, mostly comprised of those who had, over the years, taken the trip to Bologna and had seen with their own eyes the enormous possibilities achievable with advanced and sophisticated applications of the co-operative model as formalized by leading co-op theoretician Stephano Zamagni of the University of Bologna—incidentally, the oldest university in the world.

The problem is, not many people have heard anything about modern co-op theory, few have seen any highly successful modern co-ops in action, and almost no one is aware of what innovative and entrepreneurial possibilities are available only within the co-operative economy. It is this author’s suspicion, for example, that the co-op model, as recently annunciated in all its complex, sophisticated, and theoretical forms, may hold the key to solutions to humanities most pressing problems regarding energy resource depletion, stringent requirements for greenhouse gas emission reductions, growing gaps between rich and poor locally and around the world, dwindling food resources, political confrontations including state-to-state wars, and most other seemingly intractable problems. At least we are confident in asserting that traditional capitalism holds no promise of arriving at solutions to these problems—no solutions beyond violence and the rule of the jungle, that is.

So the questions facing conference attendees was, how to get policy makers to take more notice of, and make life easier for, co-operatives; how to involve more enterprising and progressively-thinking innovators in the co-operative movement; and how to generally spread the co-operative economy more broadly throughout our region, and the world.

Because one thing is certain: mention the word “co-op” to most people, and what comes to their mind is infighting at residential buildings, or old timey farmers chewing on straw and reminiscing about some dude called Tommy Douglas. What should come to mind, and what will come to mind if the marketing effort is done right, is modern, sustainable enterprises encompassing all the latest in internet, programming and communications technologies applied by the top innovators and entrepreneurs who are inspired to take apart and dispose of the most pressing environmental, political, and financial problems confronting humanity today, locally and internationally.

VanCity Credit Union is a co-op, much to the surprise of even many of its customers, who are also members. As such, the board of the bank has a mandate, as do all co-ops, to foster more co-ops and contribute to the creation of co-operative economy wherever possible—for the benefit of society, and for no other reason. Isn’t that something? Can the same be said of the Royal Bank of Canada, or the Bank of Montreal? Can those banks say they act to benefit society first? Not without a lot of verbal gymnastics by professional apologists hired by those banks’ marketing departments.

How would it be, for example, if VanCity, along with other prominent co-ops, like the Co-operators Insurance company and Coast Capital, were to set up an annual competition for the best co-op proposal, the prize being $5 million in loans on easy repayment terms, plus all the consulting and expert advice possible? The press would cover the award closely, giving the co-op brand name key exposure in the public, and the sponsors would enjoy strongly positive media exposure too—hell, they could even invite provincial and municipal participation in the prize, in exchange for a seat at the jury selection table. The Bologna Summer Co-operative Studies Program could be re-engineered into an opportunity for entrants to learn intensively about co-ops the better to refine their final submissions as they vie for the $5 million loan prize.

Such a contest would put an end once and for all to the myth that co-operative enterprises are not competitive, are old-fashioned, and are not exciting. The dangling of that $5 million easy loan would encourage every sharp-minded new UBC MBA grad to buckle down and work out a great business plan. And then, instead of one successful new co-operative venture to point to every nine years, such a group as gathered at last weekend’s conference, in five years could point to five new successful co-operative ventures. In one generation, there would be a significantly-sized co-operative economy in the Lower Mainland.

You decide how much it's worth to you: