No Money, No Problem

CSU Forgives Massive Debt Owed by CUSAcorp

NewsVince Morello — Published May 30, 2016

CUSAcorp has been running Reggies since it first opened.

According to outgoing CSU general coordinator Terry Wilkings, the debt had to be cancelled before May 31 to avoid complications.

“We would have had to have an amendment to our tax returns and expose us to potential government challenge,” he said. “It’s a lot more simple to deal with processes in the year that you are governing for.”

Despite seeing some success, Reggies and CUSAcorp accumulated $1,420,054 debt to the student union since its creation in 1984. The CSU voted in favour of forgiving the debt in order to not saddle Reggies with the burden of paying it off once it becomes an independent solidarity cooperative.

What also played a factor was that there would be no tax consequences according to a report from Deloitte, a company that specializes in financial advice.

For now, CUSAcorp is currently in the process of becoming a cooperative, called Reggies Solidarity Cooperative, through a plan of continuance, which basically means that CUSAcorp is changing into the coop, rather than dissolving.

Wilkings and outgoing CSU Internal Coordinator, Lori Di Maria, have signed all the final documentation and sent their plan of continuance it to Quebec’s Ministry of Economy.

It now awaits final approval, but the expectation is that the new entity will exist after the current fiscal year ends on May 31.