Evidence of meeting #125 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was terms.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
We have a quorum, and I'd like to start immediately. As you know, there might be bells ringing within the next half-hour.
We have before us Ms. Jessica McDonald, chair of the board of directors of Canada Post. This is an OIC appointments process that you will be asking questions on.
Ms. McDonald, pardon us if we have to run out. It's nothing against you. We'd like to welcome you. We are happy to see that Canada Post has new management.
With that, please go ahead with your opening remarks.
Jessica McDonald Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Good morning. Thank you to the chair and to all committee members for inviting me to join you today. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce myself and also to take any questions that you might have regarding my appointment and Canada Post.
I want to start by saying that I consider it to be a great honour and a tremendous responsibility to take on this position. My interest in applying for the position came from a number of principles that are important to me and that have also influenced each step of my career: a deep respect for public service; a belief that you can solve tough challenges by bringing people together to find common ground and a shared vision; a belief that you can make organizations stronger by supporting and enabling employee engagement; and, a desire to make a personal contribution to Canada and continually grow my own connection to our country.
Like every Canadian, I have tremendous respect for the postal service as an institution and for all of its workers. I was born in a small town in northern British Columbia. I was raised in both rural and urban settings. I raised my own child on a rural route. Today, I live in a densely populated area of downtown Vancouver. I've had the good fortune to travel to almost every part of the country. I've experienced many diverse and unique aspects of our culture. Throughout my life, I've seen first-hand the many different ways that we all rely on public services. In addition to making a contribution to Canada through this role, I look forward to growing as a Canadian, including becoming fully bilingual and making new connections in different places with different people.
Canada Post plays an essential role in our lives and our communities. It touches each of us every day through the delivery of our mail and parcels. It has an equally important positive presence through its mail carriers and storefronts throughout the country. Its rich and proud history as an institution older than the country itself has made its mark in defining Canada, and today it remains essential in supporting our businesses to grow and succeed.
Canada Post is also at a very critical stage. The way we communicate with each other, the way we do business with each other, and the way we choose to receive public services are all changing more rapidly than ever, and Canada Post is needed as much as ever to support us in these interactions and to serve as a connecting presence in our communities. I'm very excited to bring my career experience as well as my personal outlook to Canada Post at this particular time.
I've had the opportunity to spend most of my career—over 25 years—in the public service. For me, the journey started 35 years ago when I was in high school and was selected to serve as a page in the British Columbia legislature. After graduating from university, I was selected to be a legislative intern in the legislature. Following that experience, I began my career as a unionized employee in the provincial government. As someone who grew up with a curiosity about public policy issues, these first-hand experiences were an incredible front-row seat, enabling me to understand the impact that public service can have on people and the communities they live in.
I've had the opportunity to serve in many roles during my time with the British Columbia government while working at all levels. Later on, from 2005 to 2009, I served as deputy minister to the premier, cabinet secretary, and head of the B.C. public service. I was responsible for overseeing all aspects of government operations.
At the time, the B.C. government had 36,000 employees and a $37-billion budget. During my term, I managed massive government-wide budget reductions due to the global economic crash, and I led the implementation of a groundbreaking cross-government climate action agenda. I was also fortunate to lead landmark discussions, including the negotiation of a new relationship between the B.C. government and first nations.
I worked very closely with people at all levels of the public service to lead a transformative human resources program. As in any organization, there were different viewpoints, priorities, and agendas. We were able, though, to bring everyone together and define a vision that resulted in meaningful change. I continue to be extremely proud of this work, because we improved employee engagement by 10 points in just the first three years. The B.C. public service was also recognized for the very first time as one of Canada's top 100 employers, one of Canada's greenest employers, and one of Canada's top 25 family-friendly employers.
More recently in my career, I served as president and CEO of BC Hydro, British Columbia's largest crown corporation, a clean-energy utility generating 98% renewable and clean power. It's also one of the Canada's largest energy companies, integrating every aspect of energy planning and production, transmission and distribution, customer service, and supplier partnerships.
At the time, the utility was beginning to face a historic challenge: to deliver its largest ever capital expansion and refurbishment for the future, while keeping rates for users amongst the lowest in North America. The same principles I referred to earlier guided the corporation through these challenges: resolving issues by finding common ground, keeping employees engaged, and remembering that our primary responsibility was to serve the public by providing reliable and affordable energy.
During my time there, BC Hydro was named Canada's number one top employer by Forbes and the most influential brand in B.C., following a full brand refresh.
I also understand the value of good governance and the important role a board of directors plays in providing oversight and guidance. It has been my privilege to serve on a variety of boards, including as chair of the board of directors of Powertech Labs, board director of Powerex, and vice-chair of the Insurance Corporation of B.C., as well as serving on a couple of boards of publicly traded companies. I am also a member of the B.C. Arbitration and Mediation Institute, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada, and the Institute of Corporate Directors of Canada.
As I described, I have served the public in a unique progression of different non-partisan roles: in program delivery, as the head of the public service, from the top of crown corporation management, and on the board of multiple crown corporations and subsidiaries. I believe my career has been uniquely relevant to my current role as chair of the board of directors at Canada Post. I am truly honoured to have the opportunity to bring my experience to the challenges and opportunities before Canada Post today.
Following an extensive consultation process, the Government of Canada has instructed Canada Post to set a new path forward to meet the changing needs of Canadians while continuing to provide the high level of service that individuals and businesses expect and rely on.
I want to recognize and acknowledge the work this committee has undertaken—which I have become very familiar with—to help form the renewed vision for Canada Post. I know that the full complexity of the issues before it were studied and debated, taking into account the many perspectives of customers, communities, employees, and many others.
The mandate I have now been given centres on a new emphasis of service and accessibility and on working constructively and collaboratively with employees to find innovative solutions that support the corporation's long-standing mandate to remain financially self-sustaining.
Anyone who has followed the progress of Canada Post knows that challenges still remain. However, we have an opportunity in the next few years to set a new path at all levels of the organization that will help us to implement this new service-based vision and to get long-term renewal right.
If you have shopped online recently, you know that most of your shopping is delivered by Canada Post. While mail has continued to decline, the corporation and its employees have been working hard to adapt to the changing needs of Canadians. Great service has led to growth in parcels, making Canada Post the first choice of Canadians who need online purchases delivered.
That means the financial position of the corporation in the near term is positive. Guided by solid and thoughtful leadership, this will provide the breathing space needed to find innovative solutions for the changing work environment, to be competitive in the evolving landscape of e-commerce, and to work together to build a vision for the future.
As we undergo a transition in leadership of Canada Post, a new CEO will be key to leading the corporation forward. An open and competitive search process is well under way. As well, with many board members' terms ending, several new directors will be appointed in the coming days after applying through an open process. They will represent broad interests from across the country.
As Minister Qualtrough stated in her open letter after the government announced its vision:
...achieving long-term renewal requires a constructive relationship between the Corporation, its workers and the communities in which it operates. This will take time, and a deep commitment to renewal on the part of both management and labour.
I fully agree. Ensuring a strong future for this institution will require a deep commitment from everyone.
We have challenges to address and opportunities to embrace. The principles that got me to this point—respect for public service, finding common ground, and engaging employees—will continue to guide me as chair.
I thank the government for this incredible opportunity and role, which I undertake with respect for and pride in the past, and optimism for the future. I would be happy to take your questions.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Thank you very much. We'll go with a first round of seven minutes.
Mr. Drouin.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Congratulations on your appointment. As I can see from your title, you're assuming double duties right now. It must be quite the task. I've been reading a bit of your bio. You have quite an interesting biography.
Can you elaborate a little on what your vision is for Canada Post? How do you see it in the next two, three, four, and five years?
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
As I mentioned in my remarks, I think it's very important to take the opportunity in the near term to define a new path forward. We now have several years of positive financial results. That does give breathing space for the corporation to think about how to move forward.
I think it is very important that we engage with employees, as well as the customers we serve, in terms of how we can improve service delivery moving into the future. We need to focus on ensuring that we have a respectful and productive workplace for employees. We need to ensure that we are defining the solutions to be competitive in this very disruptive world of changing e-commerce and changing the way we communicate with each other.
Canada Post and all of its employees have done a very successful job over the past few years of capturing a very strong position in the parcels business. We need to ensure that we maintain that, but it's not a static situation. We need to continue to look at how to remain competitive, how to continue to grow services that customers are looking for, and how to ensure that over the very long term we continue to maintain our situation of being financially self-sustainable.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
I'm glad to hear that you're wanting to engage with employees. Over the past two years, I've had a lot of conversations with some of the unions that represent some of the employees at Canada Post, and I think, given the past five to 10 years, it's something that.... Politicians have had a lot of pressure. I think that we do need to engage employees and the relationship between management and employees does need to improve, so I'm glad to hear you say that.
Speaking of that, how would you plan to improve labour relations? I'm assuming you've had experience in doing that, having served in the public service before.
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Absolutely. As you mentioned, I've been in a short-term double-duty role, but I've been in my position of chair since December. I have connected personally directly with the heads of each of the unions. I am spending time talking to them about their interests and understanding deeply what their perspectives are. I believe in an open workplace where employees have an opportunity to raise issues and to be part of the conversation in terms of how the workplace needs to improve in some cases, but also to evolve and adapt so that it is a productive and respectful place for employees to work.
My belief is that we need to have open dialogue. We need to be willing to open conversations, to make sure we're hearing clearly, and to make sure we're always truly willing to adapt our processes and systems so that employees have an active voice in how the workplace feels and how their careers evolve.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
You've mentioned the fact that it is a fast-changing world and that in the parcels business there's a lot of competition out there. Critics would say that if you have unionized employees it's impossible to pivot quickly. What would you respond to them?
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I don't think that's true. It's a matter of having an open and meaningful conversation.
I actually have spent quite a bit of time reading the submissions—not all, but many—that came before this committee, as well as this committee's report. I think there's a lot of thoughtful perspective in all of that. I was impressed in particular with the creativity of the union submission. As long as we're willing to have an open and honest dialogue, candidly, about perspectives and opportunities, I'm full of optimism in terms of how we can evolve as a corporation to be financially self-sustaining but, more than that, actually competitive.
Being competitive is really another way of saying that your customers believe you're delivering a very high degree of service. I see no indication that a unionized workforce pulls in the other direction. In fact, I see a lot of potential for quite the opposite.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
You've mentioned that right now there is a competitive search process for the new CEO. Approximately when do you expect to appoint or hire that new CEO?
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
As you know, it's a Governor in Council appointment, so while I'm part of the search process, the timing is not in my personal control. The search window was actively open through to about the middle of March. We are in the interviewing stage for candidates, and it's fair to say, as a reflection of where we stand today, that the search process is well under way. While I'm not in control of the exact timing, I expect it to be in the very near term that there'll be a new CEO.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
That's great. Thank you.
I have one minute. Maybe you can talk to me about how you would apply your previous experience to what you're seeing at Canada Post. Have you gone through transformational changes at BC Hydro, Powertech Labs, or the other places where you've worked?
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Yes, very much so. I think BC Hydro is a great example. At the time, a whole new capital plan was being introduced to an organization not that much smaller in revenues than Canada Post, to be honest with you. We were getting close to $6 billion in annual revenues. It's a massive corporation that has tremendous responsibilities to deliver day-to-day service to British Columbians.
The idea of suddenly taking on a capital plan that would extend over 20 years or more and spending about $2 billion a year in expansion and refurbishment was a massive undertaking, both in ensuring that we could do it within a set rates program and continue to keep rates among the lowest in North America and in readying a workforce to drive that forward.
Liberal
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Welcome. Congratulations on your appointment.
I want to follow up on Mr. Drouin's question about hiring the new CEO. How involved are you? You are the chair and interim president, yet you say you're not in control of that. I find that odd.
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Well, it is a Governor in Council appointment, so the—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
What is the extent of your involvement in the choice of a new CEO?
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I've been fully involved in the position description, the qualifications, and the skills and experience that ideally we would be looking for in the new CEO. I've been fully involved in the path of the search process and how it reached internationally in terms of how it was advertised internationally. I was part of all of those discussions and have been—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Will you or the board be involved in the final decision-making or the final vetting of the final candidates?
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I am involved today as a board member in the vetting of candidates and in the interview process, yes.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Okay. It just seemed that in your answer to Mr. Drouin you weren't very clear on the process or how far along we were on choosing the CEO.
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I apologize. The search process was under way—
Conservative
Chair of the Board of Directors and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
While we're in the interview process, I think it would be inappropriate for me to suggest that I know exactly when we will decide which of the candidates is the successful one. I do think that in the very near term there will be a new CEO at Canada Post.
Conservative