Evidence of meeting #19 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employees.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
To try to better understand the relationship of this public-private partnership, on April 24, 2020 the deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement told the committee that Amazon Canada, Canada Post and Purolator are offering these services at “no profit for the first few months, and we'll go from there”.
What is the nature of these for-profit agreements, and have they kicked in? What do they look like?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
I can't speak to those agreements. As I said, our relationship on the services we provide is with Amazon. I'm not privy to the agreement that Amazon has with PHAC, I'm sorry.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Can you share with us if you are currently in a for-profit agreement with Amazon as it relates to the COVID response?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
We would be charging the rates we typically charge for Amazon shipments.
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
Since the start of this arrangement? Yes.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Then how is it that a member from the ministry can suggest that this was at no profit for the first few months? Did Amazon then swallow the losses on the margins that you were charging back to Amazon?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
I can't answer that question. I think that's something that Amazon could answer themselves.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
They could if they were here, but unfortunately they're not, so we're trying to figure out the scope and the scale of this arrangement. How long is the contract that you currently have with Amazon for the COVID response?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
That I can answer. In terms of the services we provide, Purolator and Canada Post get the shipments distributed across the 14 organizations, and we know that those services will end mid-July.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Mr. Green, even with the additional time, unfortunately we're out of time now.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
I hope you will as well.
We'll now go to the second round, and these are four-minute interventions starting with Mr. McCauley.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thanks again for the answers you've been providing for us.
I'm relatively short on time. Are we or Canada Post experiencing an uptick in the porch pirate thefts of items when you do your knock-drop-and-go for safety?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
We don't track theft of parcels. We do track calls that we get from customers who have problems with delivery, and we certainly have not seen any increase or changes in those trends.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
You mentioned the temporary workers you're hiring. Are these ones who have past experience with Canada Post? Did you just bring back the Christmas folks, or are there added people on top of that?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
It's both. At the very start of the pandemic, when we knew that we would need extra hands, we called on our existing 10,000 temporary employees who help us through the year. They are already trained, know our operations, and can easily fit into the work that we require them to do. As the pandemic continued, and we clearly saw that the volumes were not going to be less than what they had been and the trend continued, we started calling our Christmas casuals back into the operation. Many of them have joined.
Also, we are in the process of recruiting additional temporary employees. We're in the process of recruiting in our big centres, because we know we'll have to go to more of a 24-7 operation and to making those positions permanent.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Fantastic.
Anecdotally, do you have any evidence of difficulty hiring people because they prefer to stay on the CERB at this time? We're hearing a lot of feedback in Edmonton from local employers. Are you experiencing that difficulty at all?
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
Actually, recruitment has been a challenge for the last couple of years, given the high employment. We've always had difficulty staffing new positions, but our human resources colleagues are saying that there are more available employees than not as we recruit.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
You mentioned the plexiglass and the PPE you're providing. Do you have any idea how much that's going to be a hit to your bottom line over one year? Obviously, it's required, but....
Vice-President, Operations Integration, Canada Post Corporation
Obviously, we've been focused on serving Canadians, getting through this backlog, and making sure our employees are safe and the communities we serve are safe. We haven't had a chance really to calculate everything. We do know that the supplementary hours we've added amount to several million dollars of additional costs.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Have you had any trouble procuring masks, gloves, etc.?