Design our CECNB logo and win an Apple iPad or tickets to Messtival 2012!

In celebration of International Year of the Co-operative, CECNB is looking for a new logo and we want YOU to help us design it!  You don’t have to be a graphic artist…anyone who can draw on a napkin is eligible.  Just send us your logo ideas and they will be entered into the contest. The winner will receive an Apple IPad valued at $500 and the runner up  will get 2 free tickets to next year’s Messtival!

Four years ago, CECNB was just an idea, sparked by a group of co-operators who felt New Brunswick needed a Council to:
•    Support the development of new co-operatives
•    Increase the public profile of NB co-operatives
•    Increase the participation of youth and young families in the co-operative movement
•    Advocate with government on issues of interest to co-operatives
•    Provide opportunities for co-operatives to network, share information and collaborate

Today, CECNB is an integral part of the NB co-operative movement and has had significant success in achieving its goals.  We want our new logo to reflect the spirit of CECNB and its members and we are wide open to suggestion.  So send us along your ideas and enter to win! Please write to info@cecnb.ca for more information on how to enter!

Six New Brunswick co-ops receive ICP funding

New Brunswick will see even more new co-ops established this year with the help of the federal government’s Innovative Co-ops Program:

•     Sun Farm Kitchens Co-operative in Moncton will receive $25,000 to expand the co-op’s market in local foods with the use of a solar-powered mobile kitchen.
•     Coopérative de solidarité en recyclage et en intégration à l’emploi in Shippagan will receive $49,000 to establish a co-op that will help integrate people with disabilities in the workplace
•     Lotus Co-operative in Moncton will receive $29,000 to establish a new co-operative marketplace to support local producers
•     Coopérative d’énergie renouvelable du Nord-Ouest in St-Basile will receive $95,750 to conduct studies and consultations into the establishment of a 15 megawatt wind farm.
•     Northeastern New Brunswick Wild Blueberry Producers Association in Paquetville will receive $32,000 to develop a business plan for a new pollination service and recruit new members.
•    The Village of Lamèque will receive $20,500 to establish a co-op to support Acadian arts and culture
Another round of applications to the ICP were received in July and the announcement of the successful projects is expected by the end of 2011.

Minister of Justice supports a new Co-op Act for New Brunswick

A recent letter to the Co-op Ambassador Committee from Justice Minister Marie-Claude Blais congratulates the co-op sector for coming together in a bid for a new Co-op Act for New Brunswick.  Following an advocacy campaign and meetings with government officials earlier this summer, Minister Blais confirmed her intent to “inform Cabinet of the challenges facing co-operatives and the need for new legislation” and has asked for the Committee’s help in drafting the new Act.

The Co-op Ambassador Committee brings together both English and French co-ops, credit unions and caisses populaires from across the province in a unified effort to bring about positive change for co-operatives.  Minister Blais was impressed by the cohesiveness of the group and her letter stated that “Such unity contributes to the efficiency and effectiveness required to bring such a project to a fruitful conclusion.”  

To begin the process of drafting a new Act, a Legislation Working Group has been established from within the Ambassador Committee that includes Dr. André Leclerc, Chair of the Université  de Moncton’s Co-op Studies Program, Dr. Luc Theriault from University of New Brunswick’s sociology department, Leo LeBlanc, Corporate Secretary for Co-op Atlantic, Eric Tusz-King of the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation,  Wayne Dempsey and Ken Elliot from Brunswick Co-op Housing, Melvin Doiron of Coopérative de développement régional -Acadie, and CECNB staffers David Daughton and Wendy Keats.  The Legislation Working Group held their first meeting in late June to develop an action plan.  Stay tuned for ongoing developments!

And a very special congratulations to the Ambassador Committee’s Co-Chair, Camille Thériault, for receiving the Ordre du mérite coopératif et mutualiste canadien at the joint CCA-CCCM Congress in Halifax in June!