Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chair.
My name is Hervé Esch, and I am director general of the municipality of Ristigouche-Sud-Est. My testimony will focus more on observations of what I have seen in the field.
Ristigouche-Sud-Est is a small municipality of 165 inhabitants. As we have no post office, we rely on one that is located 15 kilometers away. There is another office situated seven kilometers away.
Canada Post is an essential public service for a small municipality such as ours. Our citizens are very much attached to it. I think it would be a good idea, as part of the reorganization of Canada Post, to expand the services offered by post offices that could become, for example, service points or relay points for Service Canada, which is the most widely represented service throughout Canada and across our territory.
The options under study include several that I think should be considered more closely. For example, there is the conversion of community mailboxes. The populations of remote villages are often aging populations, and we try to make their lives as comfortable as possible by enabling them to live at home as long as possible. Although there is an interest in community mailboxes, some people also need to retain home delivery service. All the points raised may be interesting ways to expand the potential range of post office services and help sustain operations and minimize costs.
In conclusion, I would say that Service Canada is an essential service that must be maintained.