Evidence of meeting #47 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 going.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
We got it. We got it. Thank you.
Liberal
Pauline Rochefort Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Ettinger, the last time you came before the committee, I was delighted that you made a robust commitment with respect to the accommodation program. In my riding especially, there are a lot of rural communities and older citizens. Actually, we played that clip on my social media, and I did get questions from a couple of people. They asked whether they would need a doctor's certificate.
I'm wondering if you've given further reflection on what a robust accommodation program would look like.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I heard you on that loud and clear. We've heard from a lot of Canadians that the accommodation program needs to be a lot better than it is. My commitment, and our commitment, is to do that. We've already done some things. We've put it online. It's easy to navigate.
We recognize that service comes first in this process, but safety is right there with it. For a lot of seniors—I'm in that category now, so I can speak for myself—it needs to be convenient. If people have functional challenges, we need to give them whatever support they need. Sometimes it's just that it's easier to pull the tray out of the community mailbox, or it could be a braille tray for those who are blind or close to that. It could be that the level needs to be changed for people who are in a wheelchair or whatever. Certainly, if people have good reason that they can't physically get there, we're not going to make it overly difficult for them. Maybe in the past we were very difficult on that.
Right now 17,000 households use that. We're going to be promoting it more. We're going to make sure that people understand that it's critical to this. Again, we'll be consulting with communities, but if people are concerned, I'm very optimistic that we can provide once- or twice-a-week delivery, if that's what somebody needs. Most people don't need their letter mail more than once a week these days. Whatever is required, within reason, we'll make sure we address those concerns. It really is a top priority in this whole thing. If we don't get that right, we've got bigger problems. We know that.
Liberal
Pauline Rochefort Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
I also appreciate your comments with respect to the consultation you're doing with communities. We heard from mayors. They came before us and they said how important it is for you to consult. I think hearing that you're doing this before you roll out all your plans is important. That's why we're doing the consultation. As you bring forward your plans, you need to have that information. That's what I very much understood.
At the same time, as my colleague Madam Gaudreau mentioned, in rural communities there is a concern. For example, in my community, people in small towns—Astorville, Callander, Mattawa, Temagami—worry about their post offices and so on. I appreciated the remarks you made in your opening comments. I'm wondering whether you could reiterate them or maybe expand on them.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I will. Thank you. It's another great question.
Again, rural, remote and indigenous communities are a priority for us. We're going to protect the service in those areas. I know how important they are. I grew up in a small town in Nova Scotia. I've lived in small towns across Canada. I understand how important they are. They can be the hub of the little community, depending. We're going to be very thoughtful about how we do that.
To the earlier questions, we have not made any decisions, even internally, on which post offices we think should stay or go. We're working on making sure we have the right program to engage with people and get public input. That was referred to earlier. We're out there now with surveys, online surveys and posters in all the post offices: Here's a QR code; go to this and give us your feedback. We'll address things.
We're going to look through a community lens, a regional lens. As I said earlier, if there are lots of post offices in a small area, well, that's probably one we'll look at. But for smaller areas like the one I grew up in, where they need the post office, and need it maybe even more in some ways, we will be very sensitive to that. We'll look at other factors as well. We'll get this research back from Canadians and we'll have their feedback. We'll look at traffic in these stores, at revenue in these stores and at the stores nearby. We'll look at all the feedback and make decisions thoughtfully.
Nothing has been decided upon yet, but we're getting the process out there so that we can hear from Canadians.
Liberal
Pauline Rochefort Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
I'm almost out of time, but would you say that is what's holding back the final information from the minister?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
I don't really know. Again, I'm not privy to that, but certainly they're aware of our approach of how we would like to go about this, and we've started the early consultations. We're all very sensitive to this. No one wants to lose a post office, and we understand that. We have to do this one step at a time.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you very much.
We'll go back now to Madam Gaudreau.
Go ahead, please.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Ettinger, we're talking about consultations.
What consultations have been held to date?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Thank you for your question.
We have put out surveys. We've put posters in post offices across Canada, and customers will be able to see those. There's a QR code that they can use to go online, where there's a questionnaire. It's a pretty straightforward general questionnaire: How do you use the post office? What are the gaps? What are you missing here? Why don't you use—
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Yes.
Okay, I'm sorry. Thank you.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Could you provide us with a list of the partners who have been consulted since the reform began?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Again, we have a full community relations team out in the communities across Canada. They're meeting with MPs. They're meeting with local groups. We're meeting with all of those. Recently we've been meeting with the municipalities as well, the federations of municipalities. We're getting the feedback.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
That's why we need the list. I live in a rural community. Last week, two mayors reached out to me. They're looking for information and they don't have any, or very little.
That said, we can provide information proactively. I learned today that the general public is looking for information. There are partners who are asking a specific question, and they don't know where we stand. They also don't know the criteria that will be used. They can contribute, but it seems they aren't being consulted.
What I understand, then, is that it's not finished. I understand that you consulted the Union des municipalités du Québec and the Fédération québécoise des municipalités. That's a good start.
In the coming weeks, though, do you plan to meet with representatives from the regions?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Yes, absolutely.
I'll use the example of the community mailboxes. We put a full binder together for all of the mayors in the communities and for their municipal planning departments. Our team has presented the information to them. We're consulting with them. We're going to use the very same model with post offices.
If you contact those same mayors, I think they'll tell you that, for the most part, they have received a binder on how the process is going to work, the consultation. We even proposed potential locations.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Yes.
It's out there. It's on community mailboxes, not specifically on post offices.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
It covers four million addresses in Canada, I believe. That's what we were told.
Is that correct?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Post Corporation
Yes, that's right. We'll use the same approach, which will be, I think, what your mayors quite rightfully are asking for.
Bloc
Marie-Hélène Gaudreau Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I'm an entrepreneur. My business is my money. We're talking about a public service here. Communities right across this country want accountability.
Since Canada Post is a Crown corporation, as I said, I expected the process to include a dialogue with regional representatives so they feel part of the process. I hope to see that in the coming weeks. We have to be informed.
At the end of the day, we're being told that it's not being managed as a Crown corporation. Information is not disclosed. In my riding, there are people from 39 municipalities watching you right now. They say it makes no sense.
I have one last quick question.