Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll pick up on that point because I also want to flesh it out.
Regarding this idea about the Universal Postal Union and differential rates, Canada gets access to the U.S. Postal Service on the basis of the treaty we have with them under the UPU. We get access to Europe.
The U.S. Postal Service is subsidized to the tune of about $18 billion U.S. per year. When you get your products into the U.S., you're taking advantage of that subsidy. The counterpoint would be that Canada could increase its rates for foreigners using our service, but then we wouldn't get access to the same preferential rates if foreigners had to use our service at the true cost.
Do you think that Canadians should up the prices that we charge foreigners to use our internal postal service and no longer be able to access their subsidized service to sell to U.S. customers or Chinese customers, or do you think that Canada should subsidize our postal service to the tune of about $1.8 billion U.S. a year to provide the same level of universal service, if we could do it?
I'd like to hear from everyone on that point because, if selling to the U.S. is such an important concern, that's the money issue.