BC seeks input into the Provincial Co-operative Association Act from BCCA members and our co-operative community and is launching a review regarding co-operative associations’ incorporation and corporate governance. Your feedback submitted before the August 15, 2022 deadline could help inform vital changes to the Provincial Co-operative Association Act.
The Ministry of Finance has launched a review of British Columbia’s Co-operative Association Act, the legal framework for incorporating and governing a co-operative. To help co-operatives function efficiently, the province seeks input into the Provincial Co-operative Association Act from our members and the larger BC co-op community on any problems, gaps, uncertainties, or inconsistencies in the Act, as well as any ideas on modernizing or reforming the legislation.
Overview of Your input into the Provincial Co-operative Association Act
Phase one of the review will focus on identifying issues, priorities, and objectives for the legislative review. You may have already received an email invitation to participate in this process, which closes on August 15, 2022.
This initial consultation will result in a discussion paper to inform the second phase of consultations anticipated for the fall.
The BCCA will be making a substantial submission in phase one, which will include:
- numerous suggested changes to the Act, based on an extensive legal review conducted in 2019 -these include permitting shares to reflect “sweat equity” contributions, harmonizing conflict of interest provisions with other statutes, and many other changes that would make the Act easier to use for people who are new to co-ops;
- the results of a survey of members, also conducted in 2019, which identified the need to revise other statutes -including changes to the Securities Act to allow more opportunities for co-ops to raise capital from the communities they serve;
- the results of consultations with co-op development consultants to dramatically simplify the unnecessarily complicated “model rules” for co-ops, which often slows the incorporation process;
- promoting innovations to the Act, such as allowing more flexibility for director representation on the board of British Columbia-based co-ops with an international membership; and,
- the results of recent court decisions, including provisions requiring co-ops to consult their memberships before deciding on the demutualization of the association.
Your participation is vital to the process – Help spread the word.
We encourage you to participate in this process and contribute to improving the Co-operative Association Act. It is essential that both our members and the larger co-op community across BC actively participate – please share this post and the posts from our social media sites to as many co-ops you are connected to in BC. We want to know what is on your mind, so feel free to share your submission with Elvy Del Bianco, BCCA’s Director for Co-operative & Government Relations. If you would like to participate in a “town hall” meeting about this opportunity – to better understand some of the changes that the BCCA would like to see to the Act or to help frame your submission- please connect with Elvy at devdir@bcca.coop .
Submission Details
Written input or submissions can be provided online, by email or by mail.
The deadline for feedback is August 15, 2022.
Please send your comments to: Coop.Consultation@gov.bc.ca or by mail to:
Financial and Corporate Sector Policy Branch Ministry of Finance
PO Box 9418 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9V1
Please use this link to review the BC government communication in its entirety.