Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and vice-chairs.
I'd like to thank the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates for inviting me to participate in this meeting.
I have been the mayor of the municipality of Chute-Saint-Philippe for 16 years, and this year I am beginning my fifth term. I'm also the executive director of the Municipality of Lac-du-Cerf. Both municipalities are located in the RCM of Antoine-Labelle, in the Upper Laurentians.
The municipality of Chute-Saint-Philippe has 1,100 residents and covers an area of 322 km2. It is important to understand that, in its most densely populated area, there is one residence every 200 feet. Because there is no sewer or water system, the community is sparsely populated, and travel times are long. It takes 20 to 60 minutes just to get to Mont-Laurier, the largest town in the region. During the postal strike in September, we got a glimpse of what postal service in rural areas would be like following the announcement by Minister Lightbound.
For the delivery of voter cards for municipal elections, we had to deal with GLS, a mail delivery subcontractor. Our municipality, which has a population of 1,100 people, had to pay $30 per voter, which is a huge amount for a municipality of this size. That price is high because we're not in Montreal or Laval. There's no competition here, and companies know that they can charge whatever they want.
Municipalities already shoulder a lot of responsibility. If, on top of that, they lose access to Canada Post's public service, it will be the public who will pay the price, and much more dearly.
I would also like to draw the attention of parliamentarians to the issue of decision alignment, the alignment of your decisions. Municipalities are local governments. They have legal obligations under provincial and federal regulations. Notices of non-compliance regarding urban planning, the environment and animals, as well as official letters, must be sent by mail in accordance with the law. Emails are not valid.
If there is no longer a postal service, representatives of municipalities like mine have to travel 27 km back and forth between the city hall and the post office in Mont-Laurier. Who is going to pay for that travel? It will be the taxpayers of the municipality of Chute-Saint-Philippe.
On the one hand, we're told that the postal service is running at a loss and that we need to go digital, but on the other hand, the government requires us to operate like it's 1960, when mayors, senior management and city councils were dependent on your decisions.
Another important alignment is with the objectives of the Quebec government, which currently has nearly 1,000 municipal governments, such as Chute-Saint-Philippe. In addition, Chute-Saint-Philippe is an age-friendly municipality. Of the 1,200 municipalities in Quebec, about 1,000 are age-friendly municipalities. Our goal is to enable our seniors to remain in their homes for as long as possible and to offer them a good quality of life in their communities. This requires the implementation of public policies, facilities and services tailored to citizens.
Now the federal government has just eliminated the only service it offers directly to the public. We are asking you to be consistent for our seniors. This is also a matter of regional vitality, economic and civic attractiveness, and the survival of the heart of our villages. On that note, I would like to point out that it would be appropriate to maintain postal outlets in our stores. Our convenience stores, pharmacies and other businesses could be places where these services are offered, which would provide merchants with additional revenue and direct assistance in the region.
Mr. Chair, Chute-Saint-Philippe is 202 km from Gatineau and 235 km from Montreal. For parliamentarians who are not familiar with Quebec, that is almost the distance between Edmonton and Calgary.
We need to have an efficient parcel delivery service. If this service is transferred to private service providers, once again a private monopoly will be imposed, and delivery costs will skyrocket.
The federal government plays a minor role in regional development, and it remains completely absent when it comes to land use planning.