Mr. Speaker, on February 11, I asked the Minister of Transport, the minister responsible for Canada Post, why the government was allowing the elimination of individual mail delivery in rural Canada.
It was the Minister of Transport's memo of December 13, 2006, that, instead of forcing Canada Post to hold the line in terms of individual mailboxes, seems to have given the impetus to intimidate rural Canadians into giving up their right of service, a right they have had since the horse and buggy days.
This review by Canada Post will cost $600 million nationwide over five years. What is this review for? Is it to anger rural Canadians? This amount of money over six years is criminal. This issue could have been solved at the local level between the individual mailbox holder, the driver and the postmaster. However, we have this national program that is angering and frustrating rural Canadians and intimidating them to move toward community mailboxes.
There is no question that we will hear from either the minister or the parliamentary secretary about the safety issue. Yes, we, too, are concerned about the safety of rural drivers, but when I asked the people in Prince Edward Island how many safety concerns they had about drivers, there was but one.
What would happen if we turned over the management of school buses or garbage trucks to Canada Post? Would they be forced off the road too?
Other approaches could have been taken rather than the approach being taken by Canada Post. The point is that there are other ways. What is wrong with the people in the minister's office? Can they not find a sensible way to solve this problem and maintain rural delivery?
The result of this review is leading to the elimination of individual delivery. We know that for sure. I can show members road after road where 20% to 50% of residents are not getting individual delivery. We also know that more cars are being forced onto the road with the greenhouse gas impact. We know there will be litter from these community mailboxes. We know there is greater risk to human safety by increasing the potential for accidents. One box on Rustico Road in Milton holds the mail for 31 people, which means that 31 cars are now on the road where previously there was one. What do those individuals have to do? They must turn around somewhere and go back, increasing the risk of accidents.
What about congestion at these boxes? People stop on both sides of the road. It is an accident waiting to happen. What about human safety? These boxes are not located in urban Canada where there are street lights beside the boxes. These boxes are sitting on dark, rural roads where people sometimes have to get their mail after dark. What about rural safety?
It is time the minister and the government were concerned about rural Canada and started looking after the interests of rural Canadians.
I have one other point to make. The intimidation should not be allowed to happen. The minister needs to act.