Evidence of meeting #9 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was business.
A video is available from Parliament.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
So it's 68,000 people.
Mr. Stewart-Patterson, when you examined for your client the possibilities for the future, did you engage any of those 68,000 postal workers?
2:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Policy, Conference Board of Canada
We didn't, because we were doing two things. One was essentially an econometric analysis. In other words, we were to do a quantitative assessment of where the business would be going in future. We were to build a model and to project where the business is going. The second was to engage customers, to get an outside perspective. We were explicitly not looking at implementation. We were not looking at labour management issues. We were looking at what the business means to Canadians, why they care about it, and where it is going.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
I think fair-minded Canadians watching would conclude, then, that you were pretty much examining only a part of the full window, the full prism, through which you were looking—right? I can't think of a modern corporation today that would try to undertake this kind of change management strategy without engaging its core staff. I don't get that today, in 2013. No private sector corporation, to my knowledge, no clients I used to act for as a corporate lawyer, would ever try to take this kind of revolutionary change forward without engaging its workforce.
Mr. Campbell, by comparison, in your report several years ago you said there was no sacred cow when it came to door-to-door delivery and that door-to-door delivery would be open for reconsideration. Fair enough, but let me ask you, in comparison, how many OECD countries have completely eliminated door-to-door delivery?
2:50 p.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, Mount Allison University, As an Individual
None have that I'm aware of.
2:50 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
This would be the first of 38 or 39 OECD countries to do so?
2:50 p.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, Mount Allison University, As an Individual
Yes, as far as I'm aware, it would be. I haven't examined every single one of them, but in the countries with which I am familiar, this has not been pursued.
If I may make the following observation in this context, Canada has been a groundbreaker in introducing group mailboxes, which it started to do about three decades ago. So, in that sense, this action by Canada Post shows a certain continuity. I'm not recommending it, but I'm saying this is an initiative or a tactic that Canada Post initiated when it had to deal with suburban sprawl a number of years ago and the mammoth expansion of postal addresses, which was really driving up costs.
I was as surprised as anybody else when I read this in the newspaper. It tugged at me emotionally, but I understood it in terms of the broad series of decisions that Canada Post has initiated over the last 30 or 40 years.
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses present at the table today.
Also, Mr. Campbell, thank you for your appearance via video conference today. We appreciate your testimony on what is obviously a very important issue.
I'm trying to wade through the original presentations. I'm not sure it was clear, but let me just see if I can distill a simple yes or no answer from a very pointed question to each of the panellists here.
Putting the five-point plan that has just been announced by Canada Post aside, is business as usual, the status quo right now at Canada Post, sustainable?
Mr. Anderson, is it sustainable?
2:50 p.m.
Research Associate, National Office, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
I think Canada Post has to adjust to some of the changes.
2:50 p.m.
Research Associate, National Office, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
No, but the point is that the—
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Fair enough.
Mr. Lemelin, is business as usual, the way business is right now—
2:50 p.m.
National President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
We agree on the fact that the letters are going down and this issue has to be addressed.
2:50 p.m.
National President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
It's not sustainable, but we have solutions.
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
I'll get to solutions in a second. I'm just asking if we all have a common grasp of the same problem.
Mr. Stewart-Patterson, is business as usual at Canada Post sustainable?
2:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Public Policy, Conference Board of Canada
The current model with no changes is sustainable if, and only if, Canadian taxpayers are willing to spend a billion dollars a year by 2020.
2:50 p.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, Mount Allison University, As an Individual
No.
2:50 p.m.
President and Vice-Chancellor, Mount Allison University, As an Individual
No.
2:50 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Okay.
The problem, then, is a structural problem, in that if there are no changes, this problem is ongoing.
Does the panel agree with that, Mr. Anderson? That Canada Post is facing a structural problem?
2:50 p.m.
Research Associate, National Office, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The post office is facing a problem that just about every industry faces, in that it has to adapt to changes in the way it does business. This is not different from other industries.
2:55 p.m.
National President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
The basic structure of Canada Post is good. It has to be improved.
