Mr. Speaker, I will not take much time, but I will make a few comments about Canada Post.
I congratulate you, Mr. Speaker, as being one of the Liberal members of Parliament who withdrew from the MP pension plan. You are to be acknowledged for that effort on behalf of Canadian taxpayers. You certainly have my personal congratulations as another MP who absented himself from the MP pension plan. We are in different parties but we share a kinship in opting out of the MP pension plan.
I find it really strange, really odd that there is a private members' motion before the House from a separatist suggesting that we somehow change a federal crown corporation. That is an irony and a bit of hypocrisy, if I am allowed to say that.
Twenty-five per cent of the population of Canada resides in the province of Quebec. If this member were a member in a separate Quebec, would he be putting forward such a motion to use the postal service of Quebec, a separate entity, for municipal development within his province? I suspect that his motives are not entirely pure and noble in putting the motion before us today.
I believe Canada Post should be put to more public scrutiny and exposed to competition.
I have been approached by many competitors of Canada Post who would like to get into the flyer business but find they cannot compete with Canada Post, not because they are not competitive but because Canada Post is subsidizing third class mail with first class delivery.
In New Zealand the first class postal rates have decreased and we have seen our rates go up. I believe the motive is to put competitors out of business. That is wrong and Canada Post should be scrutinized for the effort to squelch the competition unfairly.