Well, if you don't have money in your pocket as disposable income, then you're not going to be contributing to the local economy. Without secure jobs, you're not going to be able to get mortgages or loans from banks, and you're not going to buy goods and services, etc. That's why it's important that you have an institution like Canada Post that provides good-paying, family-supporting jobs with benefits in the communities, because we contribute to those communities.
The rural communities especially have been hard hit, as you know, in recent years with reductions in mining and with other environmental issues, because a lot of those communities rely on forestry, fishing, and mining, etc., and they've lost a lot of income that way.
It's important that the government use its vast network. Canada Post is the largest retail, logistics, and delivery network in the country. Canada Post and the government can use that to make sure the economy stays strong and is stimulated in rural communities. That's why we have proposals around postal banking, as has been mentioned. Many places have lost their banking, and they don't have access to the Internet. Some people say that you can just do banking online, but if you live in a community like Sayward, which is an hour north of Campbell River, they're on dial-up. They don't have a bank. I was talking to one of our members there recently and she has to do all her banking through an ATM, and they're charging $5 a shot there to use those machines.
If you don't have the Internet, then you're not going to have any access to this wonderful banking system that will still exist when all the branches have closed down. There is a post office in every community, and we could certainly be supplying extra services along those lines and helping to support the economy of each community, wherever they are.