Is Your Community Ready?

Higher prices for oil and gas will impact the price of most goods and services, and municipal budgets.  Increased reliance on unconventional fuels will also increase environmental pollutants, while contributing to climate change and human health problems.  Add increasing concerns over safe water supplies, and sharp rises in natural gas prices; municipalities can expect to take the brunt of the impacts of climate change and peak energy.

Join us for a session with Richard Heinberg, author and senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute.

This event is for rural and urban planners, staff, councilors, economic development officers and community organizations who want to develop action plans that will allow their community to innovate and thrive in an age of uncertainty.

The conference will take place on the downtown campus of Concordia University in the heart of multilingual, multiethnic Montreal, in the midst of a multitude of cafes, bookstores, restaurants, boutiques, museums, art galleries, B&Bs, and hotels. Concordia is also not far removed Montreal's three other universities: McGill, Montreal, and UQAM (University of Quebec in Montreal). It is also walking distance or a short metro or bus ride to the Old City, the well-restored centre of Canada second oldest cities and one of the oldest urban centers in North America.

Sessions begins on Friday, June 29th with the opening reception the evening of June 28th.

Paper and session proposals on different themes and perspectives are most welcome.  We welcome your online submissions!  All submissions should be approximately 250 words.  In addition, you submission should contain your affiliation and contact information.  Please specify if you are a graduate student.

All submissions should be sent to:  morris.altman@vuw.ac.nz. The subject line should read ASE Montreal Conf 2010 sub (surname of submitter) i.e.:  ASE Montreal Conf 2010 Sub (Altman).

The deadline for submissions if February 1, 2010.  You will notified by February 28, 2010, whether or not your submission has been accepted for presentations.

All sessions will take place at Concordia University, downtown campus.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
Graduate Program in International Affairs
The New School

Prior to coming to the New School, she was a Research Fellow at Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government.
From 1995 to 2004, she was director of the UNDP Human Development Reports.
Founder and Editor of the Journal of Human Development
On the editorial board of Feminist Economics.

Professor Pierre Fortin
Department of Economics

Université de Québec a Montréal (UQAM) His research interests include wage and price dynamics, economic fluctuations and growth, adolescent behaviour, taxation, fiscal and monetary policies, social policy and population economics. He is now particularly interested in Identity, Social Interactions and Well-Being.

In 1995 he was recently selected by the Quebec Association of Business Economists as "the most influential Quebec economist of the last decade".
He is a past President of the Canadian Economics Association.

 

Any one working on supporting the development of local food systems these days is running up against a constant challenge - the lack of infrastructure to support local food production, processing and distribution.

Please join us for an exploration of two cooperative models, one close to home, Westlock Terminals one from afar, Seikatsu Consumer Cooperatives, and draw inspiration on to how local food infrastructure can be financed by local investment.

Westlock Grain Terminals NGC

T The Westlock Grain Terminals is a successful New Generation Co-operative located in Westlock, Alberta. In 2002, when the community found out their grain terminal was going to be sold, they rallied together to raise more than $1.2 million in community investment in a 6 week period to purchase the terminal as a community owned venture.

Since then, the Co-op has paid healthy dividends on its shares. To its members and investors every year since inception, even throughout the recent economic downturn, and are following through on plans to continually expand their grain handling capacity. Its success was a result of the dedication of a small group of farmers, with the support of some key individuals, and, as with any new venture, a little bit of luck. The experience of Westlock Terminals has lessons to offer to any community wanting to build locally owned and controlled economic assets.

Seikatsu Consumer Cooperatives

From its humble beginnings of a group of Japanese women around kitchen tables talking about food around a kitchen table, to the now 300,000+ members, the Seikatsu Consumer Co-operatives (SC) provides a clear example of how an ethic of conscious consumerism can be directed towards re-capacitating local food infrastructure. Through consolidating their purchasing power towards local, healthy food choices, they have developed key partnerships with local farmers and food processors and directed consumer investment into infrastructure ranging form milk and meat processing plants to local warehousing and distribution. Not only is the Seikatsu Club Union implementing a “values added” strategy to transforming local food systems, they are also now applying their model to meet other collective needs of the consumers including recycling, green energy development and health/social services.
Investing In Local Food Through Cooperatives

To celebrate this momentous occasion we will be hosting a special 50th Anniversary Family Weekend from November 6 to 8, 2009 at the Goldeye Centre, located near Nordegg, Alberta. We invite past participants, volunteer staff, sponsors, individuals and families to join us. There will also be an opportunity to support the future endeavors of the ACCA Co-operative Youth Program through a silent and/or live auction.

Planning is underway with activities such as a site tour, sleigh rides, family games and a gala evening. Please note that there is no registration cost to attend the celebration; however there is a cost for meals and accommodations at the Goldeye Centre (877-721-2102)

If you are interested in more information or to donate an item to the auction, please email acca@acca.coop. If you know of anyone who has attended or sponsored the program, please let them know about this celebration. An invitation letter is available here.

You can download the registration form here.