Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Anderson, I would like to continue discussing rurality and the impact of postal services in Canada.
One consideration, when looking at how to operate postal outlets, is the decentralization of services. The link seems obvious to me. You have to trust people in the regions to provide a multitude of services to ensure the survival of a postal outlet. In this context, a convenience store could enhance its services by also serving as a postal outlet, for example. According to your study, that would improve the postal services' profitability.
I'd like to mention a case I observed in my region, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. A firm like SNC-Lavalin is awarded the contract to clear snow from post office boxes just about everywhere in Quebec. This has been the case for the past 10 years, at least in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. However, some mailboxes are not being cleared because the contractor acting as subcontractor has not been paid for nearly two years. Residents are the ones being penalized, as they can't pick up their mail. This impacts both residents and postal employees, such as letter carriers and postmasters.
This is the kind of reality we're experiencing in the regions since we no longer have lively, bustling postal outlets in every village. How can we provide these people with better services and ensure that they have access to their mail?
I'm also thinking of indigenous communities that can't access everything on the Internet because no delivery services are offered right to their homes.
Moreover, there are not enough post office boxes and in many cases, and Canada Post refuses to add any.
This is the kind of highly frustrating situation we face in the regions.
How could we ensure that people on the ground have a greater capacity to receive services and, ultimately, offer quality service to citizens?