In Quebec, since the crisis of the early 1980’s, the social economy has gained new
momentum. This has not always been a spontaneous process. In order to promote and
assure that the social economy achieves its full potential, Quebec civil society, the
Quebec government, and to a lesser extent the Canadian government, have worked hand
in hand to support the creation of new social economy enterprises and the consolidation
and development of existing ones. In 1996, Quebec social movements, including the two
major labour federations, local development networks and cooperative and non-profit
enterprises came together to create the Chantier de l’économie sociale, a civil society
organisation that is now recognised both by government and other social movements as
the central voice of the Quebec social economy. We work in partnership with sister
organisations across Canada. Today, the social economy is a significant economic actor
and is considered an important part of government strategy for regional and local
enterprise development, for poverty alleviation, for job creation and for the creation of
new services to respond to collective needs. In order to reach this stage of development,
we have had to innovate in every aspect of enterprise development, from investment
tools to public policy, from new approaches to unionisation to new legal structures, from
new forms of research partnerships to new ways to develop markets. This has been
achieved through citizen-based initiatives and innovative partnerships with the
traditional private sector and the public sector