A Co-operative Commonwealth
For far too long, power has been concentrated and consolidated in the hands of a priviliged few elites. They decide what you'll pay for groceries, for rent, for your mortgage payment, they set your wages. They decide how well you get to live. And these boardroom executives, accountable only to their shareholders, who expect ever-rising profits, are squeezing you for all that they can, at nearly every stage of production.
However, co-operatives are different. Worker co-ops are businesses owned directly and run democratically by the workers. Financial co-ops, or credit unions, are banks owned by account holders, who are directly accountable to them, rather than shareholders. Farmers’ co-ops are food processing companies owned by the farmers they serve, that remain accountable to them, rather than the elites. Co-operatives put power back in the hands of working Canadians. They give us a say over our own lives, they give us a chance to work for ourselves, to own what we produce, by cutting out the middlemen, the corporations.
For too long, government after government, Liberal and Conservative alike, built a tax and regulatory system that favoured corporate consolidation over co-operative ownership. New Democrats are fighting to change that. Because the only way to put power permanently in the hands of working people is to give us direct ownership and control over the institutions that shape our lives.
“When we as a party speak of ownership, we must also speak of worker control.”
—Rosemary Brown, 1975
Workers' Right
of First Refusal
When a business closes or goes insolvent, it doesn’t have to sit there and collect dust while we lose good family-supporting jobs. The workers who built these companies should have the first chance to own them for themselves, to keep them running, to keep these jobs in their community, to keep the wealth in the hands of those who created it: according to a study from the Democracy at Work Institute, the median increase in wages was $2 to $3.50 an hour, that’s an extra $3,500-$6,100 per year; additionally, nearly a quarter also reported receiving over $2,000 per year in profit-share. But the benefits are not just ensuring wealth remains in the hands of those who create it, but in job security: according to a study from the B.C.-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance, British Columbian co-operatives had a ten-year survival rate of 66 per cent compared to 43 per cent for conventional businesses, and another study conducted by the same group found that Alberta co-operatives had a three-year survival rate of 81 per cent compared to 48 per cent for conventional firms. Finally, the Quebec Council for Cooperation and Mutuality found that worker co-operatives in Quebec had a ten-year survival rate of 44 per cent compared to just 20 per cent for conventional firms. Worker co-operatives don’t just offer higher pay, but are more likely to survive economic downturns, as workers would prefer to take a pay cut rather than close up shop. This not only ensures these good, family-supporting jobs and the wealth they create remain in these communities, including through downturns, making our economy more resilient, whether you’re a co-operative member or not. That’s why Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats are calling for the creation of a statutory Workers' Right of First Refusal, requiring corporations to provide at least 90 days’ notice before closure, sale of major assets, or insolvency proceedings, and giving workers the right to submit a bid to buy them out and form a co-operative, which must be accepted if it meets 75 per cent of the highest competing offer. No longer should working people have to watch our factories, our mills, disappear, while working folks are forced to go on EI; it’s time we get the opportunity to take ownership over our own lives.
A National Worker Ownership Fund
To ensure every working Canadian can exercise their right of first refusal and have real ownership over their lives, New Democrats are fighting for a National Worker Ownership Fund to provide the low-interest financing workers need to compete with corporations when their workplace comes up for sale. For decades, government after government, Liberal and Conservative alike, has doled out billions to corporations in subsidies. In 1995, the Liberal government became the last to cut corporate subsidies in more than three decades, from $3.8 billion in 1994, down to just $1.5 billion by 1998. According to a paper from the University of Calgary, by 2006, corporate subsidies had risen to $5.2 billion when the Conservatives first formed government, and by 2014, they’d nearly tripled to $14 billion. Another decade later, federal corporate subsidies had once again nearly tripled, reaching $40.1 billion by 2024 according to another paper from the University of Calgary, and by 2028, corporate subsidies are projected to reach $50 billion. While doling out billions in taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to corporations, government after government handed the elites billions more in tax cuts: from their peak in 1970, the federal top marginal tax rate was cut from 47 per cent down to just 33 per cent, while the corporate tax rate was cut down from 36 per cent to 15 per cent, and the capital gains inclusion rate was cut from its peak in 2000 at 75 per cent down to 50 per cent today. What this has resulted in is a massive wealth transfer from the hands of working Canadians to the elites. How we end it isn’t just by cutting these subsidies; it's by redirecting them towards co-operatives, which put power and wealth in the hands of working Canadians, which will rebuild the middle class. For far too long, the elites have profited off of the labour of working Canadians, exploiting our land, our labour, our resources, and once we finally demand for ourselves the wages, decency and dignity we’ve earned, once we’re no longer profitable enough, they offshore our jobs, leaving us living in precarity. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Our factories, our mills don’t have to collect dust while our wealth leaves this country and working families lose a steady income: by giving working people the opportunity to buy out their closing businesses, we can ensure good, family-supporting jobs remain in our communities, and ensure Canada’s wealth remains in Canadian hands.
A National Bureau Of
Co-operative Development
Co-operatives put power directly into the hands of working people and their communities; they give us a say over our own lives. But far too often, co-ops find it difficult to raise capital, to find legal support they can afford, or to make a plan for what happens when the founding generation wants to retire. That's why Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats are calling for the creation of a federal Bureau of Co-operative Development, which would operate under the proposed Ministry of Co-operative and Community Economic Development, to provide co-ops the regulatory, financial, and governance support they need to form, grow, and get passed on to the next generation of worker-owners instead of closing their doors for good. By helping co-ops issue bonds rather than sell shares, we can help co-ops remain owned by those who work in them, while ensuring they can raise the capital they need to compete with the corporations.
“It is incredible, in this day and age, that the average Canadian... is afforded so little opportunity to influence the decisions that affect his life and his country's future.”
—David Lewis, 1972
Build A Million Public, Co-op, And Non-Profit Homes
From 1973 to 1993, the federal government built 661,000 units of social housing, and an additional 60,000 units of co-operative housing, providing for those with core housing needs. While social housing is owned directly by the federal government and offered at subsidized rates, co-op housing is owned directly by those who live there and is run democratically. However, in 1993, CMHC’s budget was frozen, and social and co-op housing construction ceased. From 1993 until 2016, the federal government built just 1,500 units of social housing. While providing for those with core housing needs is essential, Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats believe every Canadian deserves the opportunity to own their home, and that’s why we’re fighting for a public builder to deliver one million public housing units within five years, by using federal lands where appropriate and adopting modular and pre-fab designs already developed by CMHC. While these will include non-profit as well as supportive units, we’ll fight for co-op units to remain the focus. According to the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, those living in co-operative housing pay $400 to $500 less per month than those in conventionally owned apartments; that’s $4,800 to $6,000 per year. When working people own their homes collectively and democratically, no corporation can jack up the rent or buy them out.
Sell Homes Through Credit Unions, Not Bay Street
Canada's six largest banks control 93 per cent of all banking system assets, and those same banks profit directly from the housing crisis through their investments in real estate. Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats are demanding all homes built by this new construction agency be sold exclusively through credit unions rather than the big banks. Canadian credit unions consistently offer mortgage rates 5 to 15 per cent lower than the big banks. According to CMHC, the average cost of a home in Abbotsford and Mission is now over $882,000. The posted interest rates for a five-year, fixed, closed-term mortgage from the big six banks, that's National Bank, BMO, TD, RBC, CIBC, and Scotiabank, were 4.84 per cent, 4.84 per cent, 4.84 per cent, 4.89 per cent, 4.94 per cent, and 6.09 per cent, respectively, for an average of 5.07 per cent. Meanwhile, the rates for the same mortgage structures from the five credit unions here in Abbotsford and Mission, that's Khalsa Credit Union, Prospera, Coast Capital, Beem, and Vancity, were 4.19 per cent, 4.29 per cent, 4.29 per cent, 4.59 per cent, and 4.19 per cent, respectively, an average of 4.31 per cent. That 0.76 per cent difference comes out to roughly $535 less in interest per month, or roughly $6,430 per year. Credit unions also serve rural and smaller communities that the big banks routinely underserve, making them a natural partner for a housing program that actually serves working families across the Fraser Valley. Credit unions most importantly give working people a voice and a say over their bank. By directing these homes through member-owned financial institutions rather than Bay Street, we reduce the overall cost to the buyer at every stage, from construction to financing, and ensure the wealth generated by this program remains in the hands of working people rather than corporate shareholders. To ensure credit unions have the financing they need to purchase these new developments, Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats are demanding the creation of a Standing Term Financial Co-operative Liquidity Facility under CMHC.
CMHC-Backed Co-operative Housing Bonds
Communities like ours can’t wait any longer for Ottawa to build our housing; that’s why Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats are fighting for CMHC-backed community bonds, publicly guaranteed bonds that give working people the financing they need to build their own co-operative housing, without depending on a developer to decide their neighbourhood is worth investing in. Community bond programs already exist across Canada and have been used to finance co-ops, community spaces, and social enterprises in communities that the private market ignores. Right here in B.C., the Propolis Co-operative Housing Society raised $1.1 million for a new 53-unit affordable housing project by issuing co-op housing bonds. To build affordable housing that working Canadians can actually own, we need projects like this across the country. That’s why we’re demanding the creation of a federal CMHC guarantee that reduces the risk enough to unlock far larger financing from pension funds, credit unions, and municipal governments. When the federal government backs the bonds, working people build and own their homes, collectively, democratically, and without a landlord or a bank extracting profit from them for the rest of their lives. Because homes built with public funding should remain in the hands of the public.
Farmer-Owned Cooperatives and Agricultural Marketing
Farmers across the Fraser Valley are increasingly squeezed by the corporations that control processing, distribution, and retail, extracting value at every stage while farmers get less and less for what they produce. The solution isn't more corporate consolidation but more farmer ownership of processing facilities, storage, and marketing systems. Mission—Matsqui's New Democrats are calling for the establishment of a federal Agricultural Co-operative Development Fund to finance the creation and expansion of farmer-owned processing, storage, and marketing co-operatives across the country. When farmers own the means of processing and marketing their own products, the wealth created by Canadian farmers remains in our hands.