The Common Share
Welcome to The Common Share, a podcast about the opportunities and challenges of developing co-operative businesses. The Common Share is produced by Co-operatives First, a business development organization that increases awareness and understanding of the co-op business model and supports co-operative business development in rural and Indigenous communities across western Canada.
Episodes
71 episodes
Women in Co-op Leadership
For this special podcast episode we spoke to the out-going board president of Federated Co-operatives Limited, Sharon Alford. With International Women’s Day coming up we want to get her perspective as the first woman to lead this iconic institu...
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34:44
Innovative uses of the co-op model for rural economic development
Dr. Clark Banack is the Director of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities and an Adjunct Professor of Political Studies at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta. Clark is the co-editor of Building Inclusive ...
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44:24
Creating and living in housing co-operatives
Canada needs to build a lot of housing units to meet current demand and make housing affordable again - 3.5 million homes by 2030, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It should come as no surprise that we thin...
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45:27
Providing financial support with a co-operative
In this episode, our Director of Indigenous Relations, Trista Pewapisconias, spoke to Richard Tuck, the CEO of the Wakopa Financial Workers’ co-operative. Richard talks about the work of Wakopa Financial to provide support and mentorship for at...
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22:10
Economic Development and Co-ops in Île-à-la-Crosse
In this episode, our Director of Indigenous Relations, Trista Pewapisconias, and I spoke with Tyler Morin, CEO of Sakitawak Development Corporation and the Île-à-la-Crosse Fish Company. Tyler was born and raised in Île-à-la-Crosse, he earned a ...
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16:20
Childcare in Canada
This year at Co-operatives First we’re focused on helping groups start childcare co-operatives to help meet the need for childcare across the western provinces. To help us guide this initiative, we are privileged to have an advisory...
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40:01
Co-operating among the cornstalks
In this episode, Trista speaks to Lea Zeise and Jen Falck of Ohe·láku, a nonprofit co-op in Wisconsin. The co-op's members are Oneida families relearning how to grow traditional White Corn together and sharing the lessons they learn. <...
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21:01
What can we learn from co-ops in Wisconsin?
In this episode, Kyle spoke to Courtney Berner, Executive Director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives. They talked about the co-op landscape in Wisconsin and how it compares to Canada, why Wisconsin is such an incubator for ...
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42:34
The Battle River Railway Cooperative
Matt Enright is the general manager of the Battle River Railway Cooperative based in Forestburg, Alberta. A local grain farmer, Matt has served as GM since 2015. This new generation co-operative was formed in 2010 when area producers and reside...
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26:20
Growing Canada's Renewable Energy Co-ops
This summer, Aasa attended the "Scaling up the impact of renewable energy co-operatives in Canada" conference in Ottawa, where Renewable Energy Co-op (REC) leaders met to discuss how they could collaborate to grow their impacts. While the...
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18:29
The benefits of business plans
In this episode, Kyle speaks to James Grieve, Certified Management Consultant, about his approach to creating a business plan, including how to know when you need one, understanding the why of your business, and recognizing the value of experts...
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36:43
The Caisse populaire Kahnawake and the importance of Indigenous financial institutions
In this episode, our Director of Indigenous Relations, Trista Pewapisconias, spoke to Michael Rice – a founder and past manager of the Caisse Populaire Kahnawake, a hugely successful Indigenous credit union which has been around since 1987. He ...
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33:06
A primer on co-op governance
In this episode, Director of Education Kyle White had a great conversation with Federated Co-operatives Limited's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary (and Co-operatives First board chair) Sheldon Stener. Sheldon is an expert in governance w...
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27:03
Good Governance Lessons
After six years of leading the Good Governance Matters course, our Director of Education Kyle White has heard a lot from co-op leaders. In this episode, we talked about the themes and lessons that have emerged from the conversations had during ...
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36:58
Co-op Development Training through an Indigenous lens
Co-operatives are a way for people to work together to better their community and reach their common economic, social, and cultural goals. Indigenous people have practiced this community approach to economic development from time immemori...
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29:28
Bridging rural-urban divides
In this episode, we welcome Dr. Dionne Pohler back to the show. Dr. Pohler, Associate Professor at the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, and CRS Research Chair at the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, t...
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28:27
Deliberative mini-publics: a new idea for co-op governance
In this episode, we speak to Dr. Simon Pek of the University of Victoria about a new idea for co-op governance: deliberative mini-publics. These versatile groups can be a great way for co-operatives to engage and gather information from their m...
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29:02
Project Equity and employee ownership
Project Equity is an organization that promotes and supports the employee ownership of businesses. In this episode, Kyle spoke to David Gray, Project Equity's Client Services Manager, about worker co-operatives and why transitioning to worker o...
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35:17
DIY rural internet, with Jesse Hirsh
Rural communities that wish they had better access to the internet often don't realize they could create that service for themselves. In this episode Jesse Hirsh, a futurist, speaker, and consultant, talks about how he brought broadband to his ...
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43:26
Co-ops and loyalty: insights from two co-op researchers
In this episode, two co-op researchers tell us about their work looking at people’s loyalty to co-operatives. Danika Dinko is the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Association who wrote a thesis exploring the opinions of consu...
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33:04
Moving forward with your co-op start-up
In this episode, we talk to our new Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Cathy Edwards. As a founding member of Heartlinked Community Service Co-op, entrepreneur, and business plan writer, Cathy has great insights about getting a co-op running, hiring st...
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36:47
How a co-op's leaders can create cohesion and purpose
Co-operatives are businesses that bring people together — but how do you make sure everyone involved in your co-op is working towards the same goal? In this episode, our Director of Education Kyle White talks about what a co-op's leaders can do...
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38:55
Building inclusive co-op resources
Co-ops can be a great way for people to tackle local issues and embrace opportunities. But not everyone has access to resources that can help them learn about the model in a way that speaks to them. The non-profit organization In M...
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33:11
Co-ops, fiduciary duties, and the case of MEC
In this episode, we talk to Dr. Anna Lund about what fiduciary duties are, what they mean for co-ops, and take a deep dive into the decisions made by the board of Mountain Equipment Co-op. Dr. Lund is a law professor at the University of ...
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33:18
Co-ops and sustainability: A conversation with FCL's Vern Albush
Federated Co-operatives Limited is committed to sustainability. In this episode, FCL's Director of Sustainability, Vern Albush, joined us to talk about what sustainability means, and why co-ops are well-placed to be leaders in sustainable pract...
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25:36