Evidence of meeting #30 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 newspapers.
11:05 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Now, as I mentioned at the outset, colleagues, we'll have enough time for one seven-minute round of interventions.
We'll start with Madam Ratansi, please.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Thanks to all of you for coming.
We have been listening to divergent viewpoints, some with dire predictions about the demise of Canada Post, how bad it is, and whatevernot, and some saying that there are creative solutions. We are here to listen to everybody, because we need to find solutions.
I think we should try to be careful about saying that it is a privatization attempt. We need to listen. We cannot make judgments on the previous corporation mandate or on the previous government's mandate. Ours is not to privatize Canada Post. Let us put it on the record.
We understand, from the task force and from Canadians, that Canada Post does provide essential services. When we throw out aspersions about its financial status.... We haven't examined the books of the corporation. We would like to do so and we will speak to the respective people, but we know that Canada Post needs to move forward.
With that, Madam Lipsig-Mummé, I liked your presentation. You say that there was no strategic thinking. I am a person who used to do receiverships, so my job was to ensure that I made a profit, and I did make a profit in receiverships. That was my job. I'm an accountant. That is my financial background, but the social aspect of ensuring that a human being is there at the end is important.
Give us some creative thinking. I've seen some presentations on what the hub should look like. We have heard about moratoriums. Yes, no, rural: there is no one fit solution. We cannot compare Canada to Sweden or Finland, because that is comparing apples to blueberries.
Madam Lipsig-Mummé, could you give me some idea of what you would see as the fourth revolution of Canada Post?
11:05 a.m.
Prof. Carla Lipsig-Mummé
I want first to answer almost the last thing you said: we're not Sweden. One of the things I've been finding as we've been looking at how to reduce greenhouse gases and work in Canada is that you can borrow tactics, not strategies, from other countries. You can borrow pieces. They will work. They can be adapted.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
I have just come back from India. India is a country of 1.5 billion people, and their postal service works. It functions, and it provides postal banking. Do you have some ideas about what tactics we can adopt from different countries?
11:05 a.m.
Prof. Carla Lipsig-Mummé
Yes, but how much time do we have?
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
You have to give me a quick answer, and then I need to go to somebody else.
11:05 a.m.
Prof. Carla Lipsig-Mummé
Okay. The answer is yes. One of the first things you would start with is the government directing Canada Post to develop a green plan, which is developed collaboratively with its employees and their unions. A green plan has three and possibly four parts of development and a real timeline.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
If we had time.... We will not ask you the question, but we would like you to submit some papers or whatever your thought process is.
11:05 a.m.
Prof. Carla Lipsig-Mummé
I would be happy to.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Good.
Mr. Rae, you did a wonderful presentation. We have been talking to a lot of people with disabilities. They have told us that Canada Post is an essential service because of safety concerns.
How large is your membership, sir?
11:10 a.m.
First Vice Chairperson, Council of Canadians with Disabilities
I am not actually sure, because our organization is made up of other organizations. We are a coalition made up of nine provincial cross-disability organizations and a number of union disability organizations.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Do they all believe that they do not want community mailboxes?
11:10 a.m.
First Vice Chairperson, Council of Canadians with Disabilities
I doubt that any community has a universal view on these topics, but certainly our experience tells us that there is a disproportionately negative effect on our community just in getting to the community mailbox, especially in the wintertime. We have no faith that the snow removal to make it possible to get to the mailbox is going to happen. The notion that somebody will have to collect our mail is unacceptable to us.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Fair enough.
Some solutions have been proposed, and Ms. Morris, you could address these.
There was the view that you could probably deliver it to the homes one day or two days a week. Businesses don't want that, so there's no one-size-fits-all solution.
Would your memberships be agreeable to a solution like that?
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
I'm just taking suggestions from the task force. I'm not saying they are recommendations, but we want to hear your input.
11:10 a.m.
First Vice Chairperson, Council of Canadians with Disabilities
No, absolutely not. This is an issue of equity and an issue of fairness. I can't understand why anyone would expect us to accept one-day-a-week mail delivery while many other Canadians would get five. That makes no sense to me whatsoever, Madam.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
11:10 a.m.
Chief Operating Officer, Vice-President of Advocacy, Canadian Association of Retired Persons
I believe our membership is open. Many seniors are aware of the fiscal realities that Canadians face. Alternate-day mail delivery is probably the easiest solution to sell. I think the minimum that would be possible would be one day a week.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Okay.
Mr. Kirk, you were talking about e-commerce and the competition you face. When we were listening to some other people, they said that the Universal Postal Union, which was established 141 years ago, is a major problem that Canada Post is facing. The U.S. has negotiated 13 treaties with different countries. Are you aware of the UPU?
11:10 a.m.
Owner, A Good Read Bookstore, As an Individual
Oh, yes. I know that by treaty they're not allowed to charge foreign sellers zoned pricing based on delivery. I'm just saying that if you can't do it to them, then you shouldn't do it to us. Why would you give them certainty about price and not give it to Canadians?
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Time goes so quickly, Madam Ratansi.
Mr. McCauley, for seven minutes.
I think you might have a follow-up.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
You were going to get my last question, but I'll let you continue, please, because I think it's important, but briefly.
11:10 a.m.
Owner, A Good Read Bookstore, As an Individual
Briefly, sellers based outside of the country know what it will cost them to ship anywhere in Canada. Sellers in Canada have no idea what it will cost them to deliver products.