Thoughts and success stories

Big changes are happening in small towns. Baby Boomers are approaching retirement. Urban amenities, career advancement, and higher wages are pulling many young people away…

Governance lessons come from many places. Sports. Family. Canoeing. The analogies are endless. But real-life business failures offer the best sources. Because failure — especially…

What are the secrets to good co-operative governance? Dr. Murray Fulton and his colleagues at the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives have identified…

When the economy takes a downturn, it’s hard on businesses — small to medium business (SMBs), in particular — and not every business survives. Co-operative…

Main Streets across the western provinces are going through significant change. Numerous businesses are or are about to change hands. If there are no buyers…

Hamiota Mayor Larry Oakden and The Backroad Diaries’ Jack Thompson The rural municipality of Hamiota, Manitoba is full of creative thinkers who aren’t afraid to…

Every co-op is governed by a board made up of member shareholders, and these directors generally bring different skills and experience to the table. Typically, boards…

Kye is a farmer. But he’s not your usual farmer. The acres he grows on depend on numerous locations and convincing people to let him…

The legalization of cannabis in Canada hasn’t been the boon to small producers that many expected. It’s been difficult for small cannabis growers to obtain…

In this episode we speak with Cecile Green and Rebecca Fisher-McGinty from consulting firm Round Sky Solutions. Round Sky is a worker co-op that trains…

In this episode we speak to long-time co-op developer and advocate, Patrick Lapointe. As the former Executive Director (and now board member) of the Community…

The Future of rural co-ops During the transition from steam and horse to fossil fuel, the co-op model really began to prove its worth as…

Academic and journalist Nathan Schneider stopped by the Co-operatives First office to talk about his latest book, Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition that is…

Kyle White, one of our in-house policy experts, weighs in on the federal government’s 2018 economic update and what it means for co-ops. The Canadian…

Co-operative News once talked to marketing leaders from the co-op sector about marketing your co-operative difference. The responses both provided insight and reflected a few…

Fred Khonje’s career has spanned the areas of community economic development, non-profit co-op housing, co-op and social enterprise business development, housing policy development, and social…

A successful co-op has 3 main ingredients At its most basic, every co-op needs a champion with a vision, a group with a shared interest…

In this episode, Aasa sat down with Dr. Dionne Pohler to discuss her keynote speech from the Saskatchewan Co-operative Association’s 2018 conference. The keynote focused…

In the last episode in our series on board governance, Audra, Kyle, and Aasa talk about the importance of board diversity. Having people with different…

In this episode, Audra, Kyle, and Aasa tackle what happens when things get contentious on a board. We discuss the kinds of board conflict directors…

We dive right into the discussion of working vs policy board with a controversial question: Why do working boards suck? Being on a working board…