Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity today to comment on rural mail delivery, because the Conservative government is the only government that stands up for rural Canadians.
Not only is this government supportive of rural Canadians, but we understand the importance of ensuring that they receive quality rural mail service. It is very important to the people who live in rural Canada.
In December 2006, during the first year after being elected, the government acted. The government directed Canada Post to develop and implement an operational plan to restore and maintain mail delivery to rural roadside mailboxes.
The government expects Canada Post to do its very best in relation to achieving this goal, while taking into consideration the health and safety of employees and respecting all applicable laws. Canada Post did act and is acting as best it can in the best interests of Canadians to make sure this job gets done.
There are approximately 843,000 rural mailboxes, representing about 6% of Canada Post's 14 million delivery points. Canada Post has implemented a plan to review the safety of delivery to every rural mailbox.
The rural mail safety review is a result of the health and safety concerns expressed by postal employees delivering mail to roadside mailboxes.
Canada Post, like all federal employers, has legal obligations under both the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code. These are mandatory obligations to ensure that employees have safe working conditions. The safety review responded to more than 40 health and safety related rulings by Labour Canada and more than 1,400 complaints by employees.
In recent weeks, Canada Post has responded to the concerns of the hon. member for Malpeque by meeting him in his riding. This also included a tour of the rural routes being assessed and a demonstration of the traffic safety assessment tool. The member knows full well what is going on in his riding.
This tool was developed for Canada Post by independent traffic safety experts. The safety review incorporates a community outreach process, whereby all affected customers are contacted directly. That is right: Canada Post contacts directly every single customer who is affected by this. Wherever possible, delivery is maintained.
However, where a box is determined to be unsafe by this method, the first objective is to work with the customer to move it to a safe location. In the event this is not possible, customers are given a choice between delivery to a nearby community mailbox that is deemed safe or a free box in the local post office.
In closing, I would like to also point out that Canada Post is working with the Prince Edward Island transportation department in the member's own province to ensure that community mailbox sites meet the province's standards for safety.