Government Operations Committee on Oct. 23rd, 2025

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being with us today and, obviously, for the attention that this file and this issue with Canada Post has taken.

You just mentioned the pace of digital change in Canadians' lives. I've heard you describe Canada Post as “a vital national institution worth preserving”. When you put that in the context of the pace of digital change and an increasingly digital world, I'm wondering what role you view Canada Post as having in that new world where digital is taking over.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Canada Post is owned by Canadians. Looking at the future of Canada Post, it's important that we review its mandate with an idea of what Canada Post will look like in 10, 15 or 20 years. How can it better adapt and offer services that make sense to Canadians as the world changes? I'll be looking forward to hearing from Canadians, and hearing from, hopefully, this committee at some point as well on what this can look like.

Given the financial situation, given the losses in Q2 and given the $10 million a day, and I hear it's even more than that, to me and to the government it was important to move quickly and decisively with the changes we've announced to put the corporation on a sustainable financial footing, to give it the opportunity to rightsize itself, to transform itself and to be efficient at what Canadians expect Canada Post to do, which is connecting Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Thank you very much.

I know we've talked a little about rural today, but even for myself, I have the Village of Carp as part of my riding of Kanata, and there are questions as to what service will look like in rural parts of our country.

Can you share your thoughts on where you think service levels are going with respect to our rural communities?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

The directive I gave Canada Post was crystal clear. As they operate under this new paradigm where the rural moratorium that's in place hasn't changed in 30 years.... Without the constraint of this moratorium, I've made it crystal clear to the corporation that their obligation to serve Canadians and provide a good level of service, comparable to what Canadians in urban areas get, is paramount. I'm looking forward to seeing how they intend to operationalize it.

As I've mentioned, the idea of lifting the moratorium is really because some of the post offices that are covered under the moratorium and have been covered for 30 years used to be rural but are now suburban and urban. The list of examples is fairly lengthy across the country. It makes for incongruencies where you would have communities where you have a post office and a point of service across the street in suburban Canada.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Thank you for that. It's certainly an important consideration that you're obviously on top of.

During your announcement in September, you indicated that reviewing the process for increases to the stamp rate to modernize it and shorten it in line with Commissioner Kaplan's recommendations was an important piece. I'm curious about the status of that review. Do you have an update, or are there any specific barriers to a shorter process for a stamp rate increase?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I'm happy to report that there are no barriers. We'll be moving forward with an expedited process that will allow Canada Post to increase the stamp rate.

It's an important point, because the time it takes to increase the stamp rate to better reflect the actual cost of delivering mail and the burdensome aspect of that process has made it so that the stamp rate in Canada has not kept pace with what other countries have done. In international comparisons, Canada is way down compared to other countries in terms of the price of stamps. I think giving that flexibility to Canada Post to move quickly will be included as part of our red tape reduction process, so we're moving forward with that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks, Minister.

We'll go to Mrs. Block. Then we'll have one more intervention from the Liberals and finish up with Madame Gaudreau for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, Mrs. Block, for five minutes.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you, Minister, as well as your departmental officials, for joining us.

In your opening remarks—and I've heard you repeat it a few times during your answers to my colleagues—you said that Canada Post is losing $10 million a day or more.

Given that Canada Post has reported a $1.5-billion operating loss, which works out to about $4.1 million a day, where exactly are you getting the figure of $10 million a day?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

We've had extensive communications with Canada Post's chief financial officer, and on a daily basis, currently that's what they're losing. In fact, it's probably more at this point. This is largely due to the labour unrest that we've seen in the last 20 months, if truth be told, because when flyers and commercial mail aren't sent, it impacts the bottom line. It's $1 billion in revenue for Canada Post. All this taken together accounts for this very high number of $10 million, but I'm hearing it's way higher right now, though the $10 million has been duly verified.

I can't speak to the numbers I've heard recently, so I won't go there, but I think it speaks to the importance of the union and management reaching a negotiated deal, and the sooner the better.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you.

You also mentioned the recent study that this committee undertook. As you may be aware, Conservatives agreed with the recommendations that were submitted in that report. We also submitted a supplementary report that specifically noted the testimony of the Canada Post CEO, who noted that the federal government had failed to approve their strategic plan from 2019 to the date of his testimony.

Therefore, I'm wondering if you would advise us: What were the political reasons behind vetoing the independent strategic plan submitted by Canada Post over the last five years?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I can speak only for my tenure as minister.

I have approved their latest corporate plan, and it's my intention that corporate plans be submitted and approved and available for review by parliamentarians on a yearly basis as we go forward, because I think it's important for Canadians to see how the transformation is going.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Okay. Were you made aware that their plans had not been approved from 2019 to 2024?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I'll defer to the deputy minister on this point.

[Arianne Reza]

I think that those corporate plans have been reviewed and looked at by the Treasury Board to provide an annual overview, and I think some of the considerations were around how best to manage the fiscal situation and some of the issues that were faced with the labour unrest.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

By not approving their strategic plan over the last five years, do you think you did that, given where Canada Post is today?

I'm just going to leave that question there.

Minister, you've talked about Canada Post now being in a process of rightsizing itself. How many additional jobs do you expect will be lost under this rightsizing, and over what timeline?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

That's a question best asked of Canada Post, which is in charge of the operations. I'm not. However, I think, even as the government is going through a comprehensive expenditure review where we're looking at efficiencies across government, it's only fair to expect the same thing from Canada Post, and even more so, given that they're losing so much money.

I'm looking forward to seeing their plan. It's forthcoming. I think they have about 20 days left to bring that plan back. On the specific numbers you're asking about, it's best asked of the corporation in charge of the daily operations of Canada Post.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

At no time, while you were preparing to make these announcements that happened on September 25, did you take into consideration the impact on the workforce that your announcements would have.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

That's not correct. Of course it's something....

When you look at the organization of Canada Post, it has a very big structure that is designed to deliver volumes that are not existent today, so I think it's only fair to ask the organization to rightsize itself, given the nature of letter mail today.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

You announce a plan and then tell them to rightsize themselves without knowing exactly what the cost to the workforce might be.

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

On that note, I'm not in charge of the daily operations of Canada Post. Management is, so I think that's a question best asked of management, but when you have a Crown corporation that's losing $10 million a day, I think it's only fair—and I'm sure you would agree, MP Block—to ask them to find efficiencies and rightsize themselves.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thanks.

Mr. Gasparro, please go ahead.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

In regard to rightsizing, the average household now receives two letters per week, a dramatic decrease from five years ago. There's a degrading of demand for letter services to individual households. However, there is significant demand for parcel delivery. Some of the traditional media companies, for example, have picked up a lot of the deliveries from Amazon and other outlets.

Can you talk a bit about the strategy around parcel delivery and how critical that is for Canada Post?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Louis-Hébert, QC]

It's a good question. Thank you very much.

I think it's very important for Canada Post to find ways to be competitive, and I think it's highlighted in the Kaplan report that, in order for Canada Post to be competitive, it needs to find ways to be more flexible and more agile. A lot of this has to do with management and the union finding ways to work together much more efficiently than they have done in the past. I hope that the relationship between labour and management is renewed and, given the financial circumstances, that they'll both work together.

My team and I have met extensively with the union, and I've met with management as well. I can tell that they both have the future of Canada Post at heart. They both want to find a viable path for the future of Canada Post, and I hope that they will find ways in their collective agreement to make it possible for Canada Post to find a financially viable future.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I have no further questions, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Madame Gaudreau, please finish off, and then we'll suspend quickly to allow our new witnesses to join us.

Go ahead, Madame.