On behalf of the 54,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before this committee and to provide the committee with our views on Bill C-2.
Due to the time constraints, my presentation will consist of a very much edited-down version of the written presentation that you've already received, and I'll basically start on page 2 of the English and page 3 of the French.
To begin with, I'd like to mention that we're very happy that Canada Post is going to be covered under access to information. This is something that we have been calling for for years. However, we have serious concerns about amendment 149 under part 3, which adds exemptions and exceptions to Canada Post coverage under the Access to Information Act. We think the exceptions being proposed are too extensive. In addition to normal economic interest exemptions, such as trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information, the government has added a new exemption for information that has consistently been treated as confidential. This would cover a great deal of information at crown corporations like Canada Post. Canada Post has not been required to give the public access to its information and it would therefore be very easy for Canada Post to say that a great deal of information has consistently been treated as confidential.
I'll give you one example of basic information that Canada Post is currently treating as confidential. The corporation is reviewing its national network and has announced plans to close a mail processing plant in Quebec City as the very first step in its review. It has also closed about 50 rural post offices since 2001 in spite of a moratorium on post office closures in rural and small towns. Canada Post is a public corporation and the public has a right to know what the corporation is up to, especially when it comes to fundamental issues such as the integrity of our public postal network. Unfortunately, Canada Post has refused to release its overall plan for the network.
If information that has been consistently treated as confidential is included, it will be difficult for us to obtain this kind of basic information even if Canada Post falls under the Access to Information Act.
We'd also like to raise concerns about the exceptions to the new exemptions. We don't understand why we need an exemption for a part of a record that deals with general administration or a special exception for a part of a record that deals with any activity of Canada Post that is fully funded out of moneys appropriated by Parliament. This sounds to us as if everything except for parts of these two types of records...and you know, frankly, they are readily available on Canada Post's website, and the information that relates to things that are solely funded by the government is limited to government mailings and publications for the blind. We think this means that everything would be treated like information that has consistently been treated as confidential.
We'd like the committee to amend Bill C-2 to make it clear that Canada Post must provide all information, except for very specific exemptions.
I'd like to mention here that our call to have Canada Post subject to access to information rules has always included an exemption for information that is commercially sensitive. We agree that there's a real need to improve transparency at Canada Post, but we also think that our public post office must be protected from the predatory requests of competitors who have no legitimate claim on information such as Canada Post's plans to compete with courier companies. These companies want more of Canada Post's business but none of its universal service obligations.
So the union is recommending language, and this is included in the written presentation we've given you, that makes it clear that the head of Canada Post must provide all information with the exception of trade secrets or financial, commercial, scientific or technical information. We would also suggest that the terms “trade secrets, financial, commercial, scientific or technical information” be defined in the least restrictive way possible, and that this information would be subject to independent review by the Information Commissioner.
We have other concerns, especially related to contracting out with procurement, that we hope to have a chance to address during the question period. Thank you very much.