Government Operations Committee on Oct. 18th, 2016

[Michelle Brousseau]

Part of it is heritage. These people in the rural areas do not like change, and losing their post office would break their hearts. They'd be very upset. They would miss the connection.

They love to talk beside the mail boxes. They like to catch up on who's doing what or what's happening. They ask each other, “How much rain did you get on your grain? Were you able to do your fields? Were you able to get all that done?” There's a lot of community talk together, but also, to supplement their farming, a lot of them do online sales, so they often come in with their parcels to be sent out or ask if I can tell them the price to send out a parcel because they want to charge so-and-so in Nova Scotia to have something mailed.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

My question is for Ms. Strong.

Who is your immediate supervisor in the hierarchical pyramid? What is their position, and what exactly do they do?

[Jacquie Strong]

Our immediate supervisors are local area superintendents. They make sure we're all well educated. They keep us informed and help us. If some of our offices can't be staffed, they'll help us find someone to come in and help out. People get sick, and there aren't many relief people to help us out because we're so isolated. We really rely on whoever is there. Some offices have one person.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Okay.

How many post offices is the superintendent in charge of?

[Michelle Brousseau]

In my area, she takes care of Camrose all the way up to Provost, and all the way down to where I am, in Veteran. She has, I'd say—

[Jacquie Strong]

It's quite a few. They just increased it a year ago.

[Michelle Brousseau]

They're constantly revamping, so you might have three superintendents, but now they've reduced it to two.

They keep giving them more, trying to save money,

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

How long have you been a postmaster?

[Michelle Brousseau]

I've been a postmaster since 2008.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

So you have been doing it for eight years.

[Michelle Brousseau]

But I've been working for Canada Post for 19 years.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Okay.

[Jacquie Strong]

For me it's nineteen and nine.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Since you became postmaster, have you noticed an increase or decrease in the number of people doing business with Canada Post? What have you noticed in that area?

[Jacquie Strong]

I've seen an increase. I think that is because we provide customer service, and our customers come first. I am a postmaster and I encourage my staff to do. Our volume of people in and out has increased significantly. Some of them didn't like to come the post office before, but I'm not cranky. I'm not going to be that way.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

You're the postmaster, so you're the leader in the office, and you have other employees.

[Jacquie Strong]

I do.

[Michelle Brousseau]

She does.

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

Ms. Duncan, you're up for seven minutes.

To our panellists and colleagues, Ms. Duncan has a flight she must catch, so after her intervention she may be leaving. Do not be insulted. She's not one to leave, but we all have schedules we have to keep, and I believe Ms. Duncan has to get back to Ottawa.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for saying that for me. Please don't take my departure to heart, because I'm finding your panel absolutely invaluable. I really appreciate your time and service.

One of the things that occurred to me in talking to some of the people who testified is that we have to remember that we're federal representatives. We're elected members of Parliament, and we have a particular responsibility; that is, to indigenous people, first nation communities, reserves, Métis, and Inuit, as determined by the Supreme Court.

So above and beyond whatever it says in the legislation for Canada Post, which actually specifies that it's a public service, we have that added responsibility. It's by treaty as well. We need to make sure they are being fairly and comparably served. I would be interested in hearing what you think about the service, particularly to Indian reserves. I'd welcome input on that from all of you.

I'm really interested in this issue, and you have reminded me now about the decision to give rural postal workers less money than urban workers get. I'm reminded that most of them are women. Many of them, I imagine, are farm wives, or farmers, and it's another way of supplementing their farm revenue.

Could you elaborate on that, on how precarious the work is and on ways you think we could remedy that? It sounds as though these concerns, frankly, are similar to those being raised by rail workers as they privatize and Americanize. What can we do to make sure people are being treated fairly?

I've been reminded that, in fact, 60% of Canadians get door-to-door delivery. That is because 25% get that delivery in a high-rise. They don't have to go out to a mailbox somewhere else. That's not factored into Canada Post dollars. It's talking just about households. That additional 25% represents a lot more people cut back, a lot of Canadians, and with increasing density, it's going to be more efficient.

I would welcome comments from all four of you, and anything you want to use your time to elaborate. Use my time.

[Frank Goldie]

Thank you.

I can only bring up the urban issue. As far as losing the door-to-door delivery goes, they talk about the savings and the costs of adding more calls onto one's mail route, but there's also the added cost with these super mailboxes since you need to have a vehicle. That involves purchasing a vehicle, servicing a vehicle, filling that vehicle with gas, moving about the city, paying for insurance, and, if I may say so, having accidents. All these different things come into effect, so are they really saving that much money by putting up these super mailboxes and, in my opinion, uglifying the community?

Anyway, that's my point. Everybody has a vehicle now. I'm not a big environmentalist, but I know that walking eight hours a day is probably a lot healthier for a woman or a man who is a letter carrier than sitting on their butts driving in a car all day is.

Thank you.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you.

Would either of you like to talk about this precarious work?

[Jacquie Strong]

I feel, Mrs. Duncan, that we do have to diversify. Our employees, through Canada Post, are all loyal. The loyalty amazes me. To diversify, we could add photocopying in some of the places, because they don't have it.

There were some very good presentations by previous speakers, and I really believe that if we took it all together and found a working program somehow, we would be very successful, especially in the rural areas. If we change where they pick up their parcels.... It's a drive of an hour or an hour and a half one way. Unfortunately, in the rural areas, they have to plan everything. They may go once a month to the city to collect things.

I think the committee here is really on track. You've listened to all of us, and I really think that a good plan will come through from all of this. To be honest, you guys are amazing. Thank you. You've listened. Every one of you has had great questions. I think we can all get it to happen. The only thing missing is talking to the people doing the actual work, the footwork, the carriers and the postmasters, the people who are actually doing the work, and the ones who want to evolve. In my office, I always want to evolve, because I want to keep my job. I always ask the crew to help me to make it better, because it is a team, and I have to say that I did not do it alone.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Do I have any more time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Tom Lukiwski]

You have one more minute.