Cooperative Development Gap in Québec and Saskatchewan 1980 to 2010: A Tale of Two Movements

Abstract

This study uses Gramscian hegemony theory and the social movement approach to cooperative development to investigate the cooperative development gap that opened up between the provinces of Québec and Saskatchewan from 1980 to 2010. First, provincial sector growth is compared across several indices to establish this gap’s empirical scope and scale. Second, historical research and fieldwork findings are used to illuminate the gap’s origins and its historical significance. The article concludes that the development gap has been largely driven by bloc formation and dissolution—the historic erosion of Saskatchewan’s traditional, agrarian-cooperative bloc and the renewal and expansion of Québec’s social economy bloc.