Strengthening the Foundations of the Social Economy and Nonprofits

A key message conveyed by the theme of this issue is that, as we look ahead to efforts aimed at producing new knowledge that accounts for the experiences of the pandemic and the strategies adopted in response to it, it is crucial that we not lose sight of the experiences and knowledge that have shaped the foundations of the social economy. While there will no doubt be a desire to think of the world as pre- and post-COVID-19, there is much we can learn from how communities and organizations responded to the crisis that could strengthen the role of the social economy and nonprofits in our society. Social economy organizations and the private sector are collaborating, for example, when the private sector has often considered the social economy as a subsidized sector engaged in unfair competition. In order to understand how the experiences in Québec align with other parts of Canada, J.J. McMurtry provides an English response to the dialogue, which considers the content of the dialogue and its significance beyond the borders of Québec. [...]this issue features not only a truly bilingual exchange but also a sort of pan-Canadian debate on different social and welfare state models.