Evidence of meeting #55 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 corporation.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Okay, so he would have a scheduled time, and then he would appear there. Is that right?
National President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Absolutely.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Mr. McCauley, you have five minutes, please.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thanks for joining us, some of you again, and Ms. McAuley especially, even though you spell your name wrong.
National President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Take that up with my husband.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Anyway, it's great to have you here, and I appreciate the comments.
We have travelled a lot, as you know, and we've heard very clearly from a lot of Canadians, especially in the rural areas, just how important the rural post office is. We had a couple of wonderful members of your association from Carstairs and veterans who joined us in Edmonton, so kudos to you.
We've heard it very loud and clear. In rural areas it really is a vital service. In big cities such as Edmonton, not as much. Where I live, within a five-minute drive I can run into 20 outlets and several corporate stores as well.
I'll open it up to everyone here.
One of the suggestions we heard for pensions was by a representative from the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, who talked about a shared risk. You would have your set defined amount, and then the last part would be a shared risk. If the fund did very well in a good year, the workers would share in the excess money. In a difficult year when the market drops, they would receive the base amount. Again, it came up with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, but there was another pension expert, perhaps from Mercer, who commented that it was a valid thing to look at and could be a way forward for Canada Post without having to look at defined contributions or other issues.
I wonder if you folks could comment on that.
National President, Union of Postal Communications Employees
Our position continues to be, in terms of the solvency deficit, that the permanent solvency exemption would be the first thing to take a look at.
In terms of what you're raising against shared risk, usually that's what they call target benefit plans and things like that, but in terms of shared risk, a significant amount of the risk is still on the individual—in essence, people who retire on fixed incomes.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
You're very loud and clear, and I know that's your position. You need to protect the interests of your workers. Your comment was that you're open to discussion as long as it does not affect their end benefit, which means someone else is going to have to bear the cost.
Again, that was brought up and suggested by Ontario Teachers', so I just want to hear, would you be open to something such as that where the large benefit is there but just the last little part is shared risk, or is that off the table altogether?
National President, Union of Postal Communications Employees
At this point, I think there are other options to explore—
National President, Union of Postal Communications Employees
—prior to reducing employee benefits.
National Vice-President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
I agree with what François just said, that at this point there are other options to look at. If you look at the experience of large pension plans in the U.S. that went from DB to DC, in the space of only 10 years, I believe it was, they all went back to DB and found solutions to their problem.
The shared risk model as I know it, and François mentioned it—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I'm going to interrupt. Sorry. I'll be a bit more clear.
What the teachers were talking about with the shared risk was more the indexing part. They found that a very strong solution to a lot of the issues of rising cost was the shared risk with indexation.
National Vice-President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
I find that interesting, actually, because in the last round of bargaining that we just concluded in August, that is one of the proposals we submitted to the corporation, and it was refused.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
We're out of time. I want to hear from everyone.
Ms. McAuley.
National President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Yes, we looked at indexing as an option.
National President, Association of Postal Officials of Canada
We're willing to sit down and to listen, and as François said, to explore that possibility if it comes to the table. We'll see.
Conservative
Work Re-Organization Officer, National Programs Section, Public Service Alliance of Canada
No, I don't.