Is it just not a foreseeable option at all?
Evidence of meeting #36 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 banking.
Evidence of meeting #36 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 banking.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
11:30 a.m.
Executive Director, Community Links Association
I think it's a limited solution, and it would require people to identify themselves as needing that service. That puts another administrative problem in the way. There are many seniors who don't even know they can apply for GIS, and they're not applying, and they're not getting it. I think that same kind of issue would arise with that kind of system.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Mr. LaRusic, I'll ask the same kind of question. What do you think of once a week? A lot are already doing that, but do you see that as a solution, again, as opposed to higher pricing, higher taxes, or the reduction in other services?
11:35 a.m.
Past President, Senior Citizens and Pensioners of Nova Scotia
The difficulty that comes to mind is, of course, as Anne said, some of the administration difficulties. If you're waiting for certain mail, then how would they go and check it out and say, “Okay, whose box do I check out today?” I don't know how the administration of that would work, because the cheques that most seniors are waiting for are government cheques, and if we could get those delivered to the door, I think a lot of people would be much happier.
As you know, a lot of people who don't receive those government cheques are also watching mailboxes and know when they arrive, and if you're not there, they may help themselves to it. I think they spoke to the difficulty of those community mailboxes being a very good target for being broken into.
My first job was as a policeman way back in my youth, and giving people opportunities to steal is not good business.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
We have an issue in Edmonton right now of people dressing up as those flyer deliverers and taking mail as they go from one regular box to the next.
The question we're asking has come up about the people you represent, those with mobility issues. How are they doing other services that they need, such as getting groceries, getting pharmaceuticals, etc.?
11:35 a.m.
Past President, Senior Citizens and Pensioners of Nova Scotia
The big thing is family, friends, and neighbours. You have to have them. Now you're impacting on them.
I'm up here. What's my wife going to do if there's an emergency? The car is here. We don't have two cars, so if I'm here and an emergency happens at home down in Sydney, somebody else has to step in to assist, and more of that happens to many seniors.
I get lots of calls to go and drive people or to go to the drugstore for them, and stuff like that.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Is it generally the same, just in generalities? Is it family and friends? I'm not suggesting that we should add to that load. I'm just curious.
11:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Community Links Association
Yes, that would be adding to that, and one of the issues—
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Community Links Association
—with community mailboxes is that it's difficult right now for people without cars, low-income people, and seniors to get to medical appointments even, and they rely on community volunteer programs or neighbours—
11:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Community Links Association
—so to actually get someone to drive to the community box to get their mail for them or to drive them to the community box is adding another burden on the volunteer sector.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
Past President, Senior Citizens and Pensioners of Nova Scotia
At 81 I look great, but don't come and hit me. I've got new knees and all that, so I'll look good in the box, but the thing is I'm still old, and old people have difficulties, no matter how good they look. The more difficulties they have, the more help they need, and it's just like poor people: they need more help.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Scott Duvall NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you very much.
I appreciate everybody coming today and expressing your views.
Mr. Kozloski, you mentioned your concerns about the community mailboxes and people not using them enough to respond back to your organization. I think that's what I heard. You're also concerned about the possibility of an increase in the mail delivery charge.
I know an organization like yours gets bulk-mail rates, which is a little cheaper. My question would be, what would you prefer, an every-day service or a few cents more added to your budget?
11:35 a.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Feed Nova Scotia
That's a very good question.
Without any kind of study, I'd probably say that if we could reduce the cost a bit, that would be preferred, as long as we had not necessarily daily delivery, but delivery of the mail to people with mobility issues. I kind of buy into Anne's point that it's not necessarily required every day.
If charities and not-for-profits could somehow benefit by even more favourable rates than we already benefit from, that would be tremendously helpful to our operations.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
11:40 a.m.
Chair, Board of Directors, Feed Nova Scotia
I'd rather go with a lower cost, I would imagine, as long as we can still deliver, not necessarily every day, but on some kind of regular basis.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Scott Duvall NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Okay.
Ms. Corbin, you mentioned about the mobility challenges that a lot of your people are facing, and the vandalism and theft. There was a question here earlier about whether you get the family or friends to help out.
We find another big thing that's being used in the urban areas is DARTS. When people have to get accessible transportation at different times, they can only use a DARTS service, which is very, very costly to the municipality and takes up everybody's time.
Do you feel that a person with mobility issues should have to pay a fee to prove that they have a mobility problem to get the type of service that Canada Post is offering?
11:40 a.m.
Executive Director, Community Links Association
No, definitely not.
I'm not familiar with the DARTS service. I don't know what that means.
For example, if people have to apply to get a handicap card to put in their car window, I don't believe there is a fee for that. If there is, it's very small. I don't think there should be a fee, but I also don't think, in practicality, that would work very well. Older adults are very stoic. We will be less stoic about these things when the baby boom, my generation, moves into being Bernie's age. Currently many people are very reluctant to ask for special favours, so I don't think that system will work very well.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Scott Duvall NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you for that.
DARTS, just to let you know, is the disability accessible rapid transit. It's another form.... They come to your door—
11:40 a.m.
Executive Director, Community Links Association
Oh, okay. We do have Access-A-Bus service.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Scott Duvall NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
—because you cannot get to the bus stop.
Mr. LaRusic, you made some good points on concerns from some of your seniors.
What I have found personally, as I was a city counsellor in Hamilton, is that when this was implemented, because of the plan that Canada Post had to save money, it was putting an additional cost on the municipal taxpayer. For example, now the person would have to walk two or three blocks, and there wasn't an accessible ramp for the person to get up to the mailbox. Parking was very limited, so people would park in front of the mailboxes. Then people would complain that they couldn't get access to them. Lighting was an issue. There would be an amount of garbage spread around the area that now the municipality would have to pick up.
Are you hearing those same type of complaints? Are the seniors willing to accept that type of cost?
11:40 a.m.
Past President, Senior Citizens and Pensioners of Nova Scotia
No.
It's called downloading. As a senior, we're lucky we can stand up with the downloading that's coming towards us. When we talk about pensions, my pension doesn't go up, but everything else is going up. That's maybe the scheme of things, but I don't know about that.
If I'm planning on something, then Bernie pays for it. If you plan for something, you pay for it. If the government plans for something, they should pay for it and get it up. We all know it comes out of taxes. If you redesign the postal system and I have to go out there and wheel my wheelchair up there, you damn well better make it accessible to me so that I can get up there without any difficulty.
And make sure those locks work. I don't want to be up there with my arthritis trying to open a key and get it in there, only to find that I can't get it in there, or it's up too high. These are things that should have been thought of more in depth than they have been.
It's very, very annoying. That's a nice word. I'm a Cape Bretoner and I don't use too many nice words like that to describe the situation I see coming to the people that I represent across this province. It's disgraceful.
