Barlow joins Chomsky and others backing the development of co-operatives in Smiths Falls.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow is supporting the development of co-operatives in Smiths Falls, a community situated near Ottawa. This follows the small town’s loss of large US-based employers like the Hershey Company, Stanley Tools and most recently the Target retail store. “An organic food co-op and other co-operative enterprises are sustainable, climate friendly and empowering,” says Barlow.
The Smiths Falls Record explains, “Smiths Falls and area residents are fighting back against the dark cloud of business closures by researching the feasibility of opening co-operatives to meet their own needs. Roughly 30 individuals attended a Feb. 3 meeting at the Smiths Falls Memorial Community Centre to begin the discussion around opening one or more co-operatives in town. Carol Anne Knapp, a Target employee, initiated the meeting as a way to be proactive and create meaningful, reliable employment for residents in Smiths Falls.”
Recently, it was also reported that, “The Town That Grows organic food co-operative kicked off its online drive for committee members with a special message of support from Noam Chomsky, an American professor who Carol Anne Knapp credits as being one of the grandfathers of the workers’ social justice movement. ‘The plan to revive Smiths Falls as the co-op town, the Town That Grows – these are exciting and inspiring ones and not just for Smiths Falls itself, but as a model for others’, Chomsky said in a video message…”
Local news reports add, “Knapp said the idea needs the local labour force to be committed to make it happen. [Russ] Christianson [of the Ontario Co-operative Association] emphasized this point with a local example from his hometown of Campbellford, Ont., where threat of closing down the movie theatre resulted in a successful co-operative. Today, the theatre is run by four part-time staff, one full-time staff and a large number of volunteers to service an area of about 8,000 people.”
In 2009, Barlow opposed Aquablue International, a now discredited water-bottling company, setting up operations in the Hershey plant. The company had said it intended to sell its bottled water in China, but by 2010 had had its assets frozen by Quebec’s securities regulator.
For more on The Town That Grows co-operative initiative, please click here.
