Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about the people who are really punished in this serious situation right now.
They are not only small businesses but small weekly newspapers, which are a very fundamental and important part of our country. This letter talks about their business being small, but it says it “has grown by leaps and bounds over the past three years since it was established as a start-up...”. It says:
...the labour disruption at Canada Post is taking a toll on our company. Our newspaper, The Clark's Crossing Gazette, is the largest independently owned community newspaper in Central Saskatchewan with a weekly circulation of 15,100. The company employs four full-time and three part-time people in addition to providing a few hours of work each week for as many as a dozen high school students. The Gazette operates in a highly competitive environment and each day this labour disruption continues, it costs our business money.
If the Official Opposition was serious about protecting “average Canadians” as it preaches it exists to do, then it should step aside and allow quick passage of legislation to put the postal system back into operation. If the NDP refuse to co-operate, our company—like many others—will be forced to re-examine our relationship with Canada Post....