Sure. That's a very good question, and it's a concern of anyone who lives in rural Canada.
We brought in a service charter, as you recall, in September to make sure we have a universal system and that there's an obligation on behalf of Canada Post. It's the first time, actually, in the history of the country that we have an agreement with Canada Post, and they've agreed to deliver on certain criteria according to their charter. When it comes to end-of-lane delivery, and this is the real issue, we have put forward a directive to Canada Post saying that we want every one of those mailboxes retained in their original position prior to 2005, to comply with the law. If they don't comply with the law and they put the mail carrier at risk, and it's not safe as deemed by the Labour Board of Canada, then there's no option there.
Eighty-eight percent of those who have been analyzed stay right as they are, so the 12% have to be changed, moved in some way, because they don't comply with the labour codes. Those are the ones where some people will get a little upset because they may have to travel a little farther, maybe to a community box that is half a mile away or maybe a few hundreds yards away, depending on where you're at in the rural area.
Our objective is to make sure that every safe mailbox is retained, and we hold Canada Post to that. It is something they're complying with. This analyzing and moving the boxes is not cheap for Canada Post. It costs them somewhere between $250 million and $300 million to actually analyze and assess these boxes, so they would prefer to leave them where they're at as well. This is really about safety and making sure that these men and women who are neighbours and friends who carry the mail in the rural areas are protected and are safe.
We've actually had 120 auto accidents since 2005 and we've had three deaths, so this is fairly serious. There's no one who wants to get their mail in the rural communities.... I live in a rural area as well, and I wouldn't want to put my letter carrier at risk, and I don't think anyone in Canada does either. This is something we are working very aggressively at. Actually, only 6% of the population of Canada gets their mail via rural delivery, and 88% of those are not going to change, so we're talking about a very small number. But people habitually get their mail in a certain way and they don't like to get it changed in any way, so we understand that.