Chapter Five 91 
     
    
   
   
    
     with regard to the schools. And it cannot be stressed too 
     
     much that choosing the co-op way of doing things was a 
     
     pragmatic decision. That is, institutions such as the 
     
     Normalization Co-op and the Club Ti-Pa were organized 
     
     as co-ops because that was the way things were done in 
     
     Tignish, not, in the case of most people, because they had 
     
     studied co-op principles and then made a conscious 
     
     choice to follow them. During this same period, and 
     
     especially after 1980, business enterprises in the Tignish 
     
     area multiplied and diversified considerably. Most of 
     
     these were small-scale, employing less than ten people, 
     
     however two or three were considerably larger - and none 
     
     of them were co—ops. It almost seems as if organizing a 
     
     co-op was reserved, in people’s minds, for essential 
     
     services, though this, of course, is not true in every case . 
     
    
   
   
    
     Some of these businesses were complementary to 
     
     the Co-op Association. For instance, while the Co—op store 
     
     had a snack bar, there was also a restaurant or two, which 
     
     were privately owned. The Co-op owned a garage; but 
     
     there was also an automotive parts store and a service 
     
     station operated by the K. C. Irving empire. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Recently too, several bed and breakfasts have 
     
     opened; even the former Convent building was recycled 
     
     as one when the number of resident nuns became too 
     
     small to justify their Order maintaining the building. 
     
    
   
   
    
     As well as care for the handicapped, suitable 
     
     housing for the elderly who are no longer able or willing 
     
     to keep up a house has been a concern in Tignish since 
     
     the sixties. The first apartment unit for them was built then, 
     
     and has since been followed by several others. Most recently, 
     
     the village acquired a Cultural Centre, which houses the 
     
     Library, an Interpretive Centre, a tourist office, and the