Evidence of meeting #19 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was business.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
President, Canadian Printing Industries Association
You'd probably be talking as much as 5,000.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
President, Canadian Printing Industries Association
Printers. That's just printers again.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Yes. The top 10 printers in the Lower Mainland or...?
4:20 p.m.
President, Canadian Printing Industries Association
Yes, in the Lower Mainland.
4:20 p.m.
General Manager, Classic Impressions Inc., Canadian Printing Industries Association
Yes.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
General Manager, Classic Impressions Inc., Canadian Printing Industries Association
Yes. We're talking about the industry, too, the letter shops, the printers, and the mail, all that stuff that goes together. It goes way deep; it goes right to the start and who makes the paper.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Got it.
Now, if you were closed out of this market, how many of those jobs do you think would be lost?
4:20 p.m.
General Manager, Classic Impressions Inc., Canadian Printing Industries Association
I can speak for my own company: I'm 50% down just on the threat that the industry is going to close. Already we've seen the international mailers switch because they can't take a chance that, all of a sudden--because it's before the courts--as I said in my comments, “You're out of business, Barry”.
Already we've lost a significant amount of business. We're hoping that it will come back, but we've been at this three times now. If this doesn't pass, I'm out of business.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
General Manager, Classic Impressions Inc., Canadian Printing Industries Association
I have 17 right now.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
You have 17. So of the 5,000 in the industry in the Lower Mainland, how many jobs are at risk?
4:20 p.m.
General Manager, Classic Impressions Inc., Canadian Printing Industries Association
A lot of jobs have started to wander away...a thousand, maybe?
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
A thousand jobs? Okay. That's useful to keep it in perspective.
I understand that many European countries and the United States have long permitted competition in the remailer industry.
Ms. Margles, do you know how other countries compare to Canada in this industry?
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Government Relations and Policy, Canada Post Corporation
In terms of size or just in terms of the permission?
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Government Relations and Policy, Canada Post Corporation
No, you're correct. My understanding is that the United States and many of the European countries, in crafting the exclusive privilege for their postal administrations, have already had--or have had all along--this part of the market open.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So in effect, for Canada to provide some certainty, we'd really be accepting the international norm when it comes to remailers within the western democracies?
4:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Government Relations and Policy, Canada Post Corporation
Yes. I haven't looked at the numbers per se, but my understanding is that yes, most of the countries in Europe and the U.S., as I say, have had this market open for quite a number of years.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Okay.
Now I just want to read a quote from the Canada Post CEO, Moya Greene, in her comments before the Senate finance committee. She states that, generally speaking:
I favour open markets....
For us it is a revenue risk of $40 million to $80 million of a total revenue stream of $7.3 billion. We will vigorously compete for that business. Just because a market is competitive does not mean that Canada Post is out of the game. Look at what we have managed to do in the parcel business. It is the most fiercely competitive business in the country, and we are by no means out of that game. We are in there ensuring that our share of the market stays with us....
I do not think that remailers will put Canada Post under....
...I want to make it clear that [Bill C-9] does not take away the exclusive privilege. It applies only to a tiny segment of the mail...It affects a tiny subsection of the mail, and I believe that we can compete vigorously and successfully for that subsection. Of the many challenges that face Canada Post, I do not consider remailers to be anywhere near the top 10 list.
Mr. Yussuff, you stated in your remarks on page three, “We do not believe that Canadians want to see the destruction of their postal service”.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
Do you really believe that we look at a net job situation...that if there are 1,000 jobs at risk in the Lower Mainland and perhaps 5,000 at risk across the country, Canadians would see the destruction of their postal service if this were provided some certainty?
4:25 p.m.
Secretary-Treasurer, Canadian Labour Congress
We think that Canada Post has had an exclusive right to provide these services to date and I think it has worked quite well. We believe that the competition obviously will bring some challenges to the corporation that continues to provide universal services.
We also believe that if the revenue stream continues to diminish, they have a couple of choices. They can cut the services in places where...it would be more I guess advisable to do so--in rural communities. We also believe it will impact on the employment at Canada Post itself because it does provide a significant amount of employment for people in rural communities, as it does in urban centres.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC
So you do believe that this would be destructive to Canada Post?
