The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool began as a grassroots grain handling co-operative in the 1920s to address problems Saskatchewan farmers were facing regarding storing and shipping their grain. In March, 1995 a fundamental change within SWP occurred when amendments to the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Act (Private Members Bill 04) were approved in the Saskatchewan legislature. The purpose of the amendments contained in Bill 04 was to enable SWP to financially restructure its organization in order to raise additional capital.Financial restructuring was deemed critical for SWP so that the organization could modernize and diversify to compete in the global marketplace. The prevailing notion of competition and progress within the global marketplace and the increasing view of farmers as business entrepreneurs figured prominently in SWPs rationale for the financial restructuring. This thesis combines an overview of co-operative history and principles, a description of events leading up to SWP equity conversion and a summary of arguments in favour of and opposed to Private Members Bill 04.