Government Operations Committee on May 31st, 2022

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you for that. I'm going to switch to another thread now, on indigenous procurement.

You have set a target to purchase 5% of goods and services from indigenous-owned suppliers and subcontractors by the end of 2025. For 2021, Canada Post reported that it had direct indigenous procurement of 2.1% and was on track to achieve the goal of 5%.

Could you share with this committee how you intend to reach the target?

[Rindala El-Hage]

At this point in time, you're right. We did adopt a target of 5% for our procured goods or services from indigenous-owned suppliers and contractors. We disclosed that we are currently at 2.1%. That is compared to 1.2% in 2019.

We realize that we still have a lot of work to do to reach 5% of the total procurement, but we are on track. We're constantly working with our suppliers and the communities to ensure that we meet that target. We are on track, and we're continuing our work to reach that target. We know we have a way to go, but we're confident we will meet it.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you. That's perfect timing, with three seconds left.

We'll go to Ms. Vignola for six minutes.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

Thank you, ladies, for being here today.

In September 2021, Canada Post launched a pilot project involving a personal loan service in partnership with TD Bank. How has the service performed financially thus far, and how popular is it? How much will the service provide in projected revenue? Since TD Bank doesn't have a branch in every municipality, do you anticipate working with other financial institutions to possibly extend the service to a larger area?

[Rindala El-Hage]

Thank you for your question, Mrs. Vignola.

Yes, we launched a postal banking pilot project. It's a new personal loan service called Canada Post MyMoney Loan delivered with TD Bank. I'm not aware of any plans at this time to work with another financial institution. This strategic partnership was launched just recently.

The feedback so far has been very positive, but since the service is so new, I don't have a lot of information to share with you. I know that we are expanding the services available through Canada Post MyMoney Loan. A broader rollout of the service is coming in the next few months, and we anticipate a national rollout in the fall of 2022. We are very excited. The idea is to serve a segment of the population that does not have access to these types of financial services. Although the loans are small, they meet the needs of communities that currently lack these services.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

Many small communities saw their banking institutions move out of the community.

Why did you choose TD Bank specifically?

[Rindala El-Hage]

I have to be frank with you. I don't know the details of the request for proposals, so I can't tell you why we selected TD Bank. All I know is that this was a strategic partnership we entered into with TD.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Can you provide the committee with the information on the decision-making process by email?

[Rindala El-Hage]

What I can tell you is that we adhere to a stringent request for proposals process for any strategic partnership.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

All right, but I would simply like you to send us the information by email.

[Rindala El-Hage]

Yes, of course. Thank you.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

In April, the environment minister, Mr. Guilbeault, released the 2030 emissions reduction plan. In a nutshell, he said that, to demonstrate leadership, the energy emissions targets for federal buildings had to be more ambitious. The announcement mentioned making electric vehicle charging stations available in areas under federal jurisdiction, which of course includes Canada Post offices.

Have you estimated what that announcement would mean in terms of costs?

[Rindala El-Hage]

It's part of our environmental plan. I believe we have four charging stations at our largest centres, and we plan to install more in the next few years as we implement our leadership plan.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Did you do a cost estimate, yes or no?

[Rindala El-Hage]

I don't have that information on hand, but I would be glad to get back to you on that.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Do you have a sense of how much you would have to invest to equip every Canada Post office with just one charging station? If you could give us a rough idea, that would be helpful.

What savings and benefits would such a measure mean for Canada Post?

[Rindala El-Hage]

Yes, that is part of our plan. We know that Canadians expect more of us. We have an emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030, and we are taking a host of other steps. In fact, we have acquired 740 green vehicles this year.

As for the exact cost, I don't have that information on hand, so I'm going to ask my colleague Ms. Séguin whether she can provide more information. If not, we would be pleased to follow up afterwards.

[Nathalie Séguin]

Thank you, Ms. El‑Hage.

We have installed electric vehicle charging stations for employees at our facilities in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, as well as our head office in Ottawa. We don't yet have the results of the pilot project, but they will inform our decisions going forward.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

All right.

One of the union's suggestions was to electrify the entire fleet, and you are in the process of doing that. I realize that you can't just replace 14,000 vehicles overnight.

The union also recommended making charging stations available to the public, which would bring in another form of revenue for Canada Post.

Are you planning to do that?

[Rindala El-Hage]

Currently, we have a very large number of vehicles, 14,000, as you mentioned.

Our plan is to replace them gradually with green vehicles as existing vehicles need to be replaced. We also intend to make sure that charging stations are available. First and foremost, they will be available to employees for the vehicles they use. Currently, we aren't planning to extend use of the charging stations to the community. We are going to start by addressing our needs.

As you pointed out, it's a major challenge—a major plan—so actions will also depend on what is available on the market.

[The Chair, Conservative, Robert Gordon Kitchen]

Thank you. If there is further information you'd like to add in answer to the questions Ms. Vignola asked, you can send it to the clerk and the clerk will distribute it to the committee members.

We will now go to Mr. Johns for six minutes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses and, certainly, to all the employees at Canada Post. We appreciate the members of CUPW.

The annual report for 2022 says that Canada Post Corporation would have lost money regardless of the pandemic.

Can you explain how this is calculated, specifically?

[Rindala El-Hage]

Specifically, we highlighted and reported, in our 2021 annual report, the revenues and costs related to the pandemic. For 2022, it was a bit more difficult to quantify specifically, because a lot of the information was already included in our base. However, we know that in 2022, we were there to support the safety and well-being of our employees. We wanted to make sure they had the special leave they needed to remain safe. It was for the safety of the communities they serve as well.

We did not quantify that information in our 2022 report. However, we know that we still incurred special leave, though probably not at the same level incurred in 2021. Considering the amount we incurred for those expenses in 2021...that is why we commented that the losses were not necessarily driven by those additional expenses, but by the loss of revenue we saw in that year.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

I appreciate your acknowledging and protecting your postal workers. As you know, we're adhering to public health regulations and protecting public safety by exercising the “negotiated leave” provisions in collective agreements, as well.

We know the costs of COVID-19 absences, in other industries, were covered by EI and other emergency assistance programs. Can you speak about how that creates a different balance sheet from those of other private sector corporations?