Media.Knet.Ca

Everyone is invited to contribute their thoughts about the new Social Economy program that FedNor will be delivering over the next two years. The o­n-line consultation documents provides a great opportunity for everyone to lobby for more contributions towards addressing the needs of small, remote and rural communities as they struggle to maintain their place in the Canadian economy!

Below is a message distributed by FedNor encouraging everyone's contributions to this process before Wednesday, January 26.

"You may recall that the February 2004 Speech from the Throne identified the "social economy" as a new priority for the Government of Canada. The March 2004 Budget underlined this commitment with a specific reference to social economy enterprises. A National Roundtable o­n the Social Economy has been established to advise broadly o­n this sector and provide input to the development of a federal policy framework regarding these initiatives.

I am pleased to report that FedNor has been asked to convene an o­ntario regional roundtable composed of key community economic development and social economy stakeholders o­n Wednesday, January 26th, 2005 in Toronto. I  will be attending with a small team of FedNor officers.In addition to this roundtable, FedNor has set up a web-based  consultation process, to allow those not at the meeting next week to share their views o­n priorities, program design, program delivery approaches, and evaluation.

You are more than welcome to visit this site by clicking o­n the What's New section o­n the FedNor home page or linking directly to:

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/infednor-fednor.nsf/en/h_fn02091e.html

We expect the web-based and roundtable consultation process to be completed o­n January 26th. 

Greg Smith
Associate Director General