Thank you for that question. I appreciate that.
I happen to know the Australia Post CEO very well. In fact, he came in by Zoom to our latest board strategy session in Montreal to share some of his learnings with us.
I'll just say that in their country, they've been able to get a little more flexibility around their operating model—their delivery model. I'd say if there's one key word that I want to leave you all with today, it's “flexibility”.
Let me just say this: Our operating model was built back in the day—really in the last century. That sounds a little dramatic, but it was built for a paper-based economy—almost pre-Internet—and that is holding us back. I would say right now—and forgive me for this terrible analogy—we are driving a 1967 Chevy in a Formula One race. That's where we are right now. We're tenacious and we have lots of new parts in the car, but it's a tough one.
We need more flexibility to compete. We need more flexibility in how we deliver, like weekend deliveries, evenings or next day. We need flexibility in our regulatory structure to be able to respond faster. Flexibility in pricing can help us with some of the financing issues we've had. We also need flexibility to invest and improve service—to invest more in our people and invest more in safety.
We have to continue to modernize Canada Post. It's a wonderful organization that is a platform for change across Canada. People care about it. We know that.
We're in a fight—a dogfight—for every parcel out there right now and we're up against some of the best competitors in the world. I don't have to name them, but they're global icons, in terms of both shippers and e-commerce.
The flexibility we need is along those lines. It's basically modernizing Canada Post. I believe we can do it. I think we have the talent, the tenacity and the people to do it.