In essence.
Evidence of meeting #10 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was i've.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #10 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was i've.
A video is available from Parliament.
Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
In essence.
Associate Professor, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, As an Individual
Mr. Patzer, can I maybe offer something slightly different?
In our world, the need for change often explains how people want to change. Ten years ago, I don't think people looked at Canada Post as being on the precipice of what we now see today; therefore, the need for change 10 years ago would have been a much harder sell. It would have been a much easier sell five years ago, but we were tied up with the pandemic.
You're on the right track. These are changes that should have been done before, but if you could have convinced people 10 years ago, you are a better person than I am.
Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
Just to put some facts on the table, I don't disagree with Marvin—
Conservative
October 23rd, 2025 / 5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, SK
Okay. I was just going to say that I think the Conservative Party was on the right track prior to the election, but I digress.
Conservative
Liberal
Pauline Rochefort Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Thank you for that discussion and that additional comment there, Mr. Ryder.
For me, personally, I think back 10 years to when we were bringing in some of the post office boxes in my community and the outrage people had about switching from home delivery to post office boxes. I simply could not see the changes that are being proposed now being proposed 10 years ago.
Something else that has mystified me that I would love to hear both of you comment about is the lack of willingness by the union to engage in organizational or operational flexibility. I guess in the Kaplan report he recommended a series of changes to address the need for flexibility. I think Canada Post had discussed hiring part-time staff, and different options were brought forward. Why was the union critical of that? Why have they been so resistant? In this day and age, they see the competitors, especially with parcel delivery. Why are they so against operational flexibility?
Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
My own interpretation is that Canada Post and the workers have been under what I'll call the letter-mail monopoly model for so long—two centuries, literally going back to the origins of the post office. It was the letter-mail monopoly model. They had a monopoly. They didn't have to compete, and nobody expected them to. We didn't ask them to compete. That's part of their corporate culture and their value system. Then, because of this transformation into the parcel business, where it was not a monopoly model but a brutally vicious, competitive model.... I think the transition is very difficult; it's difficult to switch from a monopoly model mentality into a much more competitive mentality.
I'm unionized at my university. The second reason, understandably, is that unions do not want to give up past benefits that have been negotiated at the bargaining table. CUPW has been very clear about that, and I certainly understand that.
Associate Professor, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, As an Individual
What I was going to tell you is that there are two kinds of flexibility. One would be to bring in these part-time workers who work only on the weekends. The other would be to say to workers, “We're not going to do that. We're going to keep you employed, but your weekend might be Tuesday and Wednesday rather than Saturday and Sunday.” There are lots of people working in hospitality who understand that. You don't always get Saturdays and Sundays off. As Ian just pointed out, though, the union would have to go back to the workers and say, “We're giving something up. We're going to change something here. Maybe we're even in agreement with some of you moving to early retirement.” This is a union that's not used to backing down. It's fast and forward. When you ask them to go backwards and give up some things they've had, it's very difficult to do that.
Liberal
Conservative
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I have one simple question: What is your top recommendation to ensure that Canada Post's president and CEO submits a report worthy of the corporation and that it no longer runs a deficit?
Associate Professor, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, As an Individual
I'll take a first shot at that, if I can.
As I said in my remarks, the three changes that have been proposed are necessary but not sufficient. He has another 20 days to come back to tell you how he's going to move people to community mailboxes and, Mr. Boulerice, where they're going to be located. In my case, they're on municipal rights of way; they aren't rented spaces. He has 20 days to tell you how many people he's going to probably furlough or move to early retirement. He has 20 days to talk about some of these rural post offices, but that's still not enough.
I don't know if he can give you the second half of that. How do you, then, grow this business so you can get rid of that extra $1 billion? You should hold him accountable to that—that is why you have a CEO of the organization.
I think if he can get the last piece, which is this flexibility around the workforce, it is possible to win back, I think, some of this market share, but I have to warn you that I don't know if it will be enough. Again, frankly—you'll have to think about this—if he could reduce the deficit from $1.5 billion to just $500 million, and he says, “Look, I've done everything I can, but that's as low as I can get it,” is this group prepared to say, “Well, maybe we should think about subsidizing it again”? I don't know. He hasn't had the ability to have a free hand to tackle that, so let's give him that chance and see what he comes back with.
Bloc
Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, As an Individual
I'm going to cheat and give you three fast answers.
Number one, delivery five days a week has to go. It's just not sustainable at all to go out to 17.5 million addresses 52 weeks a year. It's not possible.
Number two, franchise all of the post offices that are corporate owned.
Number three, go to dynamic route scheduling, so that they can reschedule to get the flexibility that they desperately need.
Those three recommendations were in my report in 2024.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you.
Mr. Lee and Mr. Ryder, thank you very much. It was very informative, very interesting and a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
Colleagues, thanks very much. Everyone have a wonderful weekend, and we will see you on Tuesday morning.
We are adjourned.