Economic impact of the Canadian co-operative sector (2009 and 2010)

Little research exists on the economic impact of the co-operative sector in Canada, and changes in the sector over time. The purpose of this paper is to fill-in the gaps in the knowledge about the size of the sector and its performance over time using a comparative analysis.

The authors of this paper conducted an input-output analysis of co-operatives in Canada for the years 2009 and 2010. First, the authors quantified the size of the sector for each year and then these two data points were compared to analyze the changes in this one-year period.

This paper demonstrates that co-operatives in Canada are significant to the national economy and remain stable over time.

This is the first time such a study has been done in Canada for the co-operative sector.