Evidence of meeting #53 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 post.
A video is available from Parliament.
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
We didn't look at the revenue side because when we looked at the existing population, some are door to door and some are parcel. It was hard to establish any difference between behaviours.
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
What length of a pilot do you think Canada Post would need to run to determine whether or not there were any negative impacts on their overall revenue, from a service perspective, on these converted homes? Is it something that they could figure out in a year? Would it require two years to figure out whether or not this reduced service level of community mailboxes has caused attrition in other lines of their business to privatized players? How long should we pilot or examine such a scenario?
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
It's very hard to respond.
I don't necessarily know how long it would take to validate that assumption, but certainly Canada Post has been looking at the impact on the people they have converted from 2014.
However, the take on parcel delivery for community mailboxes is typically positive. People can get their parcels in their mailbox and they see that as a benefit. So it would have to be—
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
Okay, so we see it as a benefit, and yet in all the analysis we have, it's net neutral on the revenue line.
Was revenue examined, or was revenue simply not examined at all as it pertains to community mailbox conversion?
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
We didn't look at the revenue.
My comment was more about how people are satisfied with the service delivery, not necessarily from ordering more or quantitative—
Liberal
Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL
But they wouldn't know about the packages delivered by a competitor.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Mr. Weir, you have three minutes. Very quickly, please.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
I have a question for Ernst & Young.
How much revenue does Canada Post currently earn from the sale of collectors' items or commemorative stamps?
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
That's a good question.
It's marginal, but I don't have the exact information. It's bundled with the other revenue.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay.
We did hear from a witness in Yellowknife who suggested that Canada Post is not doing enough to support that hobby, and that if it did more, there is the potential for additional revenue. Specifically, he pointed to a recent stamp collecting convention in New York City that drew thousands of people from all over the world. His sense was that if we could attract events like that to Canada, it would be a significant source of new revenue for Canada Post and also a source of tourism and economic development for the country.
I wonder if you have any thoughts on that. I'd also open it up to Mr. Spear.
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
As my colleague said, those additional revenues are truly marginal, and they are bundled into the other revenue. It would be truly a rounding error.
To put this to rest, that's not a major source of revenue, capital—
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
It's not a major source of revenue right now, but I take it you also don't see it as a significant source of potential revenue.
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
I agree with that. We don't see it as a major source of revenue.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay.
We heard there hasn't been one of these big international stamp collecting conventions in Canada for a long time. Is that something we should be pursuing? Is there a significant opportunity there, if not for Canada Post, then for Canadian tourism in general?
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
I would ask that question more to tourism Canada.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Okay, but no particular....
I just note that many options were touched on by the report. This wasn't one of them, so I thought I should put it on the table to see if there were any thoughts.
Partner, Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
I would ask tourism Canada to answer that question.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. Your testimony has been excellent and very informative, and I think very helpful for our committee.
Should there be additional information that committee members are looking for, would you accept any written questions?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Subsequently and conversely, should there be any additional information that you wish to transfer to us, please get hold of our clerk and get that into us as quickly as possible.
Thank you so much.
We will suspend for a few moments while we get our next witnesses.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Colleagues, I think we'll start so we can try to get close to completion on time.
Thank you to all our witnesses for being here. I'm quite sure that all of you are familiar with the process that we follow. We'll be asking those making presentations to do so in five minutes or less. Following all opening statements, we will have a round of questions from our committee members.
With that brief introduction, we will start.
I have the Department of Finance up first with a presentation.
Ms. Hemmings, you have five minutes. Please proceed.