Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate for a few moments in this debate. I have 10 minutes and a lot to say, so let me begin. I am going to be hosting a town hall in Dartmouth on Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:00 to talk about these cuts. I am pleased to have a go at it tonight because when I have a town hall I let me constituents do the talking instead of taking up the time myself.
I am pleased to be here to talk about this motion and to talk in support of home delivery by Canada Post to Canadians. I have been listening to the debate all day and to the members opposite trying to explain why they are moving in this direction, and I still do not have a clear answer. Let us be clear. They sound like they know what they are talking about. The government has it down pat in terms of cutting services. Whether it is services to veterans, closing down offices, closing down services to fishermen, closing down services for people on EI, closing down libraries, or not ensuring that military personnel and their families get the services they need, the government is really good at closing down services. It has all the answers when it comes to why it is that Canada Post has to shut down home delivery to two-thirds of Canadians and why it is that it has to jack up prices by more than 50% for small businesses and charities. It has all the answers.
If the Conservatives are so smart and sure of themselves in their explanation and arguments for this, why did they announce the decision in the dead of night? Why did they announce the decision the day after Parliament closed, when there was no one watching or listening and no one to question them, to try to hold them to account and to get some answers? There was neither a minister nor an executive from Canada Post in sight when Canadians got wind of what the government had announced and began to demand answers. They government members did not have anything to say then, but they stand in the House today and have all the answers.
The Conservatives talk about how people are not sending mail any more, that they are responding to the times. Let us be clear about this. We know that Canadians have been using mail less over the past number of years. What has the government done about it? Has it done anything? Has it made the kind of changes that need to be made to make Canada Post services more acceptable to Canadians? No, they have not. They waited until this particular point in time and said to thousands and thousands of seniors and people on disability, who would have trouble accessing these community mailboxes, they are on their own, and tough luck. They are saying to small business people and charities, who depend on mail delivery, that Canada Post cannot afford it any more and that they will have pay nearly double the rates they are currently paying. It is simply not good enough.
I was talking to Carl today, a man from Dartmouth. He is 88. He said he just got off the phone with his sister, who lives out in the country down near Lunenburg. She is his younger sister. She is 87. He is upset about this because he said it is going to be difficult for him to access the mail in weather like this and weather that we have had throughout the winter. He said his sister has gone days, if not weeks, trying to access her community mailbox in the country.
I had a call from Sue the other day. She said there have been times over this winter when she has gone a number of days not being able to get into her mailbox because of the ice and snow.
As I indicated, I am anxious to talk about this, but so is my colleague. I will be splitting my time with my colleague from York South—Weston who wants to chime in as much as I do. I was hesitant whether or not I would split my time, but I think I will, nonetheless. He is a fine fellow and I know he has a lot of important things to say about this.
Why is the government on this and so many other issues not prepared to consult with Canadians, is not prepared to consult with Carl, Sue and so many of the people in Dartmouth who are going to see the service cut? Why are thee Conservatives not prepared to come with me to the town hall at the Woodlawn United Church on Thursday night and hear what people have to say?
People are concerned about the fact that they are not going to be able to get the service they normally do. I hear government members say there are other Canadians who do not get door-to-door service any more and depend on community mailboxes. We fought against that because we believed it was wrong too. Two wrongs do not make a right. The government has to figure how it is going to provide services to Canadians, how it will be able to make Canadians' lives better, how to make Canadian families' lives more affordable instead of finding ways to cut back services.
Recently the Conservatives announced a big program called the Canada jobs strategy. It was announced last year with great fanfare and they spent millions of dollars on advertising for this wonderful program. They could not even get that right. They still do not have a Canadian job strategy. Their job strategy, the way it is currently designed, will take program money away from the most vulnerable learners, people who are trying to access jobs by overcoming their literacy problems and breaking down the barriers to their becoming employable. That is what the government is proposing, but it cannot even get that right. Maybe that is the problem. Conservatives cannot sit around and come up with services they can expand or renew because they cannot get it right. That is what Canadians are looking for.
The government says it does not have any money. We know it has given tax cuts in the trillions of dollars to the largest corporations in Canada. It has foregone trillions of dollars in revenue and has to stop delivering the mail to 88-year-old Carl who lives near Mic Mac Boulevard or Mic Mac Mall. Is that fair? Do Canadians not deserve a little more respect from the government than having fingers wagged at them saying that they will have to do without and can no longer depend on this service because Conservatives cannot afford it any more, but that they have to give more money to the oil companies and the banks.
In terms of the whole issue of expanding services and whether Canada Post could start making money from postal banking, the government should be examining those kinds of options. It should be able to come to the House and tell us that they are going to expand these services and ensure that Canada Post will try options like those adopted in other G7 countries to ensure that services are available for Carl, Sue and the other people in Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, who desperately need and deserve these services. This is a service that we should be providing to all Canadians. It connects our communities from coast to coast to coast. That is the kind of country that we on this side of the House want to live in.