Certainly, and thank you very much to the committee.
I'm here today to speak to you as a citizen but as a businessman as well, not as a city councillor, to argue for the continuation of door-to-door delivery service and an end to the super mailbox program.
I'll begin my comments by simply saying we all know it's about more than just the mail, but my perspective is different from most others as I see this not as an issue of cost or cost-recovery for Canada Post, but one of opportunity, and I understand that Canada Post's real value as a corporation lies not in just the delivery of mail but in the power of its distribution and real estate network. There's no other corporation in Canada that has more distribution power than Canada Post. To this we surely would all agree. It is worth mentioning that even as the corporation, Canada Post, through its parcel delivery program network has reaped large financial benefits over the last years because of the online business, and so on, I see this as an obvious place for it to continue to grow its business model.
As an aside, as many in this region know, I personally have been a strong public advocate for a minimization of waste, inefficiency, and duplication of services for both the private and public sectors. People do not mind paying taxes as long as they are getting value for those same taxes, so by extension, value for your taxes has been my primary mission in many of my public endeavours.
Canada Post is a stand-alone crown entity and I believe it's also committed to those same values. I do not believe I need really to connect the lines between Canada Post, its necessity, and the public good, for I just won't have time to do that today.
My argument today is a simple one. Canada Post, through its reduction of door-to-door delivery service, is not maximizing its distributive potential, either financially or on better societal outcomes. I have come to know that there is great potential for positive outcomes on both fronts, and they're not just desirable, but I would argue, they're achievable. Understanding that the boots on the street, the very makeup of Canada Post's distributive system, are about more than just delivering mail, we can quickly come to see that there are numerous other opportunities to add value to Canada Post's services, using not only its real estate assets but more importantly its personnel.
If seen in conjunction with other orders of government—and that's the most important point I'm trying to make today—one can quickly see that we are duplicating many services, thereby duplicating person-hours, thereby duplicating the cost to the taxpayers. These efficiencies range simply from the argument of boots on the street. If, for example, I could have an individual walking around using just a simple app and reporting on potholes or infill issues and such, it would reduce the burden on another order of government, that being the city.
To be fair to Canada Post, these value-added services should not be considered free, and it should be fairly compensated for these extras. What is clearly required is a financial assessment of these various value-added services that are available and the appropriate order of government to pay. Once the business case has been piloted, of course—I always believe in evolution, not revolution—we can deploy. The opportunities are there.
I'm looking for my light. Do I have a light for my five minutes?