ACCA Scaling Up Government Relations Efforts - Looking to Members for Direction

To meet priorities identified by its members at the 2020 AGM, ACCA is actively working to scale up its government relations efforts. 

Policy priorities guide ACCA's government relations and advocacy efforts

At the 2020 ACCA AGM, participants identified two initial policy priorities to guide ACCA's government relations and advocacy efforts. These priorities included seeking a securities filing exemption for co-operatives and increasing rural broadband connectivity. 

 To build on the momentum ACCA generated in focusing on the specific collaboration GR issues, staff are looking to its members to help identify issues where government policy is impacting their co-operative. These issues could include legislation, regulations, or other government decisions that affect a co-operative's sustainability, business value, or members.

 "Our members' insight and direction are critical to this process," said Paul Cabaj, executive director for ACCA. 

“Co-operatives success is based on coordinating the resources of their member-owners into something that is far greater than the sum of its parts.  It is no different when it comes to government relations, a collective voice will more likely be heard at the leg.”

Before the 2021 ACCA AGM, members will receive communications via email and social media to access the 'Member Policy Issue' template. For inclusion in this year's process, the template needs to be filled out and returned by April 12th, 2021. 

Action plan to be developed

Following the 2021 AGM, ACCA staff will work with the Government and Stakeholder Relations Committee to formulate an action plan and advocate for our members on their policy priorities. "Annually, we will repeat this process ahead of ACCA's AGM, "explained Sandra Thorton, ACCA Board Delegate from Equa and Chair of ACCA’s Government and Stakeholder Relations Committee. "The goal is to provide a predictable and collaborative process our members can use to ensure their government relations priorities are the basis of ACCA's advocacy for the co-operative system in Alberta." 

For your convenience, use these links to access the communique, reply template and sample.

 For further information, members are encouraged to connect with Paul Cabaj at execdir@acca.coop or call 780•716•4475.