Thank you.
As I have very little time, I am going to go right to the point and talk to you about a solution that the task force seems to have discarded, the idea of a postal bank.
Unlike the major banks, a postal bank has a much more social purpose and can reinvest its profits into its communities. The main excuse that the task force used for discarding the idea of a postal bank is that the Canadian banking system is very healthy. It is so healthy that the six major banks made profits of $35 billion last year, in addition to handing over $12 billion in bonuses to their executives.
According to Radio-Canada and Le Devoir, three major Canadian banks—RBC, Scotiabank and CIBC—are widely reported to be among the banks dealing with companies in the Bahamas. Is that what we call a healthy banking system?
The portfolios of the CEOs of the major banks may be very healthy, but the same can unfortunately not be said for the public and the communities. Canadians pay among the highest banking fees on the planet. A million Canadians have no bank accounts, more than two million Canadians have to go to payday lenders like Insta-Chèques, and a number of towns and villages have no banking services. By contrast, post offices are everywhere. There are 6,300 postal counters in the country. By way of comparison, that is twice the number of Tim Hortons.
A postal bank is much more oriented to society and to the community. It could provide a new source of revenue for Canada Post and reinvest part of its profits into communities. In France, the postal bank puts part of its profits back into building social housing. In Italy, the postal bank has chosen to invest in the country's infrastructure and its regions. The postal bank in Canada could support local small businesses, as well as investing in energy-saving transformations through loans or subsidies.
A bank like that could go back to the original mandate of credit unions. Don't forget that credit unions were established to support regional economies, farmers and the working class. Unfortunately, credit unions in Quebec have moved away from their original mandate and we are seeing them disappear from the regions more and more.
Of the $35 billion that the banks made in profits last year, I would like to know how much was reinvested in communities. A societal choice must be made: either we continue to protect the excellent financial health of our major banks and their executives at the expense of Canadians, or we begin to seriously concern ourselves with the financial health of our people and our communities, health that is becoming more and more precarious.
I am asking the parliamentary committee to make public the secret study conducted by Canada Post, in which 700 out of 811 pages were redacted, and have people with no conflict of interest conduct a serious, fully transparent study on the establishment of a postal bank in Canada.
The government asked Ms. Bertrand to study all viable options for Canada Post. Ms. Bertrand is the president of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, and she sitteth at the right hand of a number of directors and vice-presidents of major banks. The same can be said about Deepak Chopra, the CEO of Canada Post, who is on the board of directors of the Conference Board with the President and CEO of RBC. There is a real conflict of interest there, as I see it. I doubt if any of those people want to talk about a postal bank.
When Canada Post announced the mandate, it said that everything would be studied except privatization. The task force document excludes everything except privatization and deregulation.
A postal bank is only of one a number of services that Canada Post could provide. Post offices could become real focal points, providing services to the community. Canada Post is a public, universal service. That is the perspective from which the crown corporation must be studied, not from the perspective of a private company.
Canada Post is a source of pride for Canadians, and so it must remain.