Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for inviting me to appear before you today.
My name is Karine Monger. I am the chief executive officer of the Gulf of St. Lawrence regional county municipality, or RCM.
I'll start by explaining where we are located. We're 1,500 kilometres east of Ottawa, in the easternmost part of the province of Quebec. The vast majority of the RCM's area isn't connected to a road. We're located right on the Labrador border, in the easternmost part of our region. There is a road link that is accessible either from Labrador or the Maritimes.
Today, I want to talk to you about Canada Post services and the need for those services in my region. We've heard from others before. However, what I want to tell you is that Canada Post continues to be the only way to receive envelopes or parcels in our small RCM. All deliveries in our region are done strictly by Canada Post.
Our region has a small population of about 5,700 people. They live along the coastline in small villages that, as I said earlier, are not connected to each other. The mail is delivered to us mainly by air. We are also subject to the weather, which means that these deliveries obviously depend on good weather.
As I said earlier, we have post offices in each of our small communities. Canada Post is the only service we have in our region. All the other services you might think of—private companies, for example—don't exist in our region. Again, we are strictly serviced by Canada Post.
How does that work? For example, if I order something from Ottawa, it's shipped to Sept-Îles. Then, through a private carrier, it's transferred with Canada Post services, and then the mail is transported to our region.
You can imagine that during a strike, as was the case in the fall of last year and, more recently, this fall, everything grinds to a halt. No other services come to our region. Everything is paralyzed, which means not only sending envelopes and parcels, but also basic services. Think of medications that are normally shipped by mail, eyeglasses or any other item like that. That's significant.
We really need the services of Canada Post. We have to make sure that other measures are put in place for our population during a strike, so that we can address this problem and provide a basic service to our population. As I said earlier, our region is completely paralyzed without Canada Post services.
People have mentioned that they have to travel kilometres to get to the nearest town. In our case, it isn't possible. If someone has to travel to buy school supplies, for example, during a strike—a situation we experienced—there is no way for us to get in our car and get around. You literally have to take a plane to go to a store that, it must be said, isn't close to our region.
We believe that Canada Post's services are necessary. They are unique, and it is important to take all that into consideration for our RCM and to ensure that we maintain a minimum of services.
As I said earlier, we have post offices in each of our communities. Our mail is delivered by air. We therefore ask you to consider the fact that we are isolated and that, when a strike is called, everything in our region comes to a standstill.
It's extremely important that you remember all of this as you go forward. It's also important that you take this into consideration in the upcoming review.