Government Operations committee  I think the challenges it would face would be to look at implementing this process, as I said, in a gradual and systematic manner, not jumping into it. If they jumped into it, that would be a mistake. It would be a mistake just to say, okay, tomorrow we're going to offer postal banking everywhere in the country etc., with full bank services.

Government Operations committee  The majority.

Government Operations committee  That is correct. There are some in municipalities such as Saskatoon. That is the case of the First Nations Bank of Canada.

Government Operations committee  Those three institutions within the federal government have banking expertise. Certain people who work there can therefore be called upon to assist Canada Post. Partnerships must also be established to offer certain services. Consider Switzerland, for example. PostFinance is the Swiss bank for many services.

Government Operations committee  That is correct. You do not need to open a bank tomorrow and offer all services across Canada. You can do it gradually.

Government Operations committee  That is a tough question. However, I think Canada Post should open a bank. It is not hard to do. Walmart, Canadian Tire, and Rogers Communications have done it. A company like Canada Post can open a bank. The federal government already has expertise in that area. The Business Development Bank of Canada, BDC, Export Development Canada, EDC, and Farm Credit Canada are already in existence.

Government Operations committee  I think that is an exaggeration of what is happening. It is generally a profitable company. True there are losses in mail delivery, but it is also true that there has been an increase in revenue from parcel delivery. The corporation has also begun to offer certain services such as same-day delivery in major cities such as Toronto, and those services are very profitable.

Government Operations committee  The post offices in England have not been privatized. It is the delivery service that has. There are two postal companies, one state-owned and the other private. The one that offers postal banking services has not been privatized. It is a crown corporation. That is the first point to note.

Government Operations committee  I conducted a study on post office closings in rural areas. It is available in English and French and I hope it has been distributed to you. I also conducted surveys of the mayors of municipalities where there were post offices, but where they had been closed for more than 20 years.

Government Operations committee  The chair of the task force on the Canada Post review, Ms. Bertrand, made a mistake in her presentation to the committee. It is 7% of all Canadians who will open an account, not 7% of people who are in favour of postal banking services. If you reread the report, you will see that she made an error in that regard.

Government Operations committee  That appears in the major report that is still confidential. Canada Post has prepared an 800-page report in which these questions are addressed. The report concludes that it is possible to offer banking services and that they would be a winning option for both parties. This has been done by a Conservative government in Great Britain and by a socialist government in France.

Government Operations committee  The first thing is that the Conference Board did not study postal banking services in 2013. That study was not part of its mandate. However, if we look at what is going on in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, we see that the banks have abandoned the rural areas and that people are conducting their banking transactions at the post office.

Government Operations committee  Thank you. I'm going to make my remarks in English, but I'm very willing to answer any questions in French. I actually presented before the task force committee. I was very disappointed with the task force report on Canada Post, because I thought it concentrated too much on how to cut services and save money and not enough on how to expand services by Canada Post.

Transport committee  Definitely, and in fact, that's what I take a look at in my study. Every country has addressed this issue, but what I say is that Canada Post has not even looked at the major solution to this crisis.

Transport committee  That is correct, and—