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.
4:50 p.m.
National President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
They had the bank there.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Excellent.
I'm curious. Mr. West, you're here representing the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
What does—?
November 2nd, 2016 / 4:50 p.m.
Howie West Work Re-Organization Officer, National Programs Section, Public Service Alliance of Canada
Yes, the Union of Postal Communication Employees is a component, a sub-union, of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Brenda Shanahan Liberal Châteauguay—Lacolle, QC
Okay.
I wanted to hear your thoughts. Something that we've heard a lot about is the community hub, where we could leverage the postal offices across the country to provide these additional services, many of them that are being served now, either in person by Service Canada, or by online or telephone services. How feasible is that to retrain people or to provide those services in an all-in-one community hub?
The reason I say that is because a complaint we had from some of the commercial retailers, e-commerce people who were using Canada Post to deliver their parcels, is that time is money, and they couldn't afford to be waiting in line. They needed specialized commercial parcel services. That's where the money is, and they couldn't be waiting in line behind somebody who was trying to fill out a remittance or something else.
4:50 p.m.
Work Re-Organization Officer, National Programs Section, Public Service Alliance of Canada
I'm not quite sure I understand the question, but certainly, I think the problem you described goes to staffing levels. Whether it's at a Canada Post office or a Service Canada office, if there aren't enough people on the front counter to provide the services, you're going to have a queue. It only stands to reason. It's the same as at the grocery store. If you only have one cash register open at the grocery store, people are going to line up at that cash register and the person at the back of the line is going to be less happy than the person at the front.
In terms of where I thought your question was going initially, I do think that postal services could better handle some services that now are provided only by computer terminals in remote locations. For instance, for employment insurance at Service Canada, they advertise that they have all kinds of places where that can happen, but what it is, really, is that they have a computer terminal that someone can sit down in front of and use. Also, in a remote location, there's no guarantee that everyone really understands how to work that computer terminal. More trained people to provide those employment insurance services that Canadians need, for instance, would be a good thing.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for being here. I think there are a few French Canadians among you. That's good, so we can have a good discussion.
You know that Mr. Chopra was with us before you arrived. I don't know whether you crossed paths when he left. I hope he shook your hand.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to come back to one of the things that Mr. Chopra said and that I would like to confirm. He said that both Canada Post management and the employees and various groups and unions that represent Canada Post workers had agreed that Canada Post needs to adjust and renew itself for the 21st century, but he did not go into detail.
Is it true that you and Mr. Chopra agree on that? The question is open to everyone.
4:55 p.m.
Daniel Maheux National Vice-President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Indeed, the unions and management of the Canada Post Corporation agree on this. They think that there is a serious problem and we have to find solutions.
In fact, for the first time in the history of the Canada Post Corporation, following Minister Flaherty's announcement in 2013, the four unions agreed to meet with management together. Management resisted initially. We persisted and, in the end, we—all the corporation's unions—met with the Canada Post Corporation's management to tell it that there was a problem with the pensions and that we had to find a solution.
A special committee was set up after that according to the guidelines of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. I have to say that I have not found it productive so far. I also find that the Canada Post Corporation lacks transparency toward us. Let me give you an example. I was the chief negotiator for the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association. On August 5, we were before the arbitrator and neither the arbitrator nor we had heard about the $8.1-billion pension deficit that Mr. Chopra mentioned today.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
You say that you sat down with Mr. Chopra and concluded with him that there was a problem with the pensions. Are you also—you and he—of the opinion that Canada Post needs to renew itself given the changes in the world and the way Canadians use Canada Post?
4:55 p.m.
National Vice-President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
We quite agree. This is one of the things the unions agree on. The report that was submitted to you indicates that 7% of Canadians would be in favour of opening a bank account at a postal bank. That is a huge percentage, and 22% of merchants also say that they are interested. That percentage is very high, as well.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Maheux. I have several questions, so I'll continue.
Mr. Dubois and Mr. Ling, you mentioned that you support some of the five points. Which ones?
4:55 p.m.
National President, Association of Postal Officials of Canada
We were involved in installing community mailboxes from day one. When we say “day one”, we mean it.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
National President, Association of Postal Officials of Canada
Increasing the price of a stamp may be one solution. According to the reports we have, the price of a stamp in Canada is one of the lowest in the world.
Some things have moved forward, but we probably aren't there yet. There are two. I think the biggest is the installation of community mailboxes.
Let me clarify that the unions don't all have the same vision in this regard. This is the future; technologies change. Many houses are built, and we must try to rationalize. Since it was set up, we have been involved in discussions on the developments. We worked with the employer to try to minimize the impact on our end.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Alupa Clarke Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you very much.
I'll continue. I'll come back to a question that is open to everyone.
5 p.m.
Conservative
5 p.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Thanks very much.
The two hottest issues facing our committee have been the Phoenix payroll system and Canada Post. Since we have representatives from PSAC here, I'm inclined to suggest that perhaps we should enlist Canada Post to deliver paycheques to federal employees. Maybe we could get two birds with one stone.
My serious question to Mr. West is that most of the members you represent are part of a federal public service pension plan that is not subject to solvency valuation because it's understood that the federal government is a going concern. Given that no one is proposing to privatize Canada Post, I wonder whether it makes any sense to subject its pension plan to solvency valuation.
5 p.m.
Work Re-Organization Officer, National Programs Section, Public Service Alliance of Canada
I'm not an expert on pensions, Mr. Weir, so I think François could probably respond to that more, if that's okay, because he's dealt significantly with the pensions for his members.
5 p.m.
National President, Union of Postal Communications Employees
I'm not sure I understand the question. You're asking whether or not the PSAC should be subject to the solvency test?
