Mr. Speaker, before I get into my prepared notes, I would like to do as the member opposite suggested and share with the House a few court decisions on this very subject. The courts have already ruled on the compliance of section 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
On August 3, 1989 the federal court trial division found section 13(5) did not contravene the equality provisions of section 15.1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the basis of occupational status.
On May 29, 1990 the federal court trial division found the allegation that section 13(5) creates discrimination on the basis of gender was frivolous. The court also found there were no grounds for a claim of discrimination on the basis of differential treatment of rural and urban residents.
On February 1, 1999 the U.S. National Administration Office, responding to a NAFTA challenge issued by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers on behalf of rural route contractors, rejected a claim that rural route contractors should become employees.
Both national and international tribunals have found no fault with the independent status of rural route contractors under the Canada Post Corporation Act. The member for Winnipeg Centre should take note of these judgments to fully comprehend the issue.
In 1981 parliament created Canada Post to ensure that all Canadians, wherever they lived, would receive reliable and affordable postal service. In several ways the enduring contribution of independent contractors has helped Canada Post achieve this crucial goal. However, the bill we have before us today could easily compromise the provision of good and affordable postal service to rural Canada. Affordable is the key word.
Canada Post's ability to use contractors for the delivery of mail has made reliable, affordable postal service possible. Nowhere is this more true than in rural Canada. With a sparse population spread over one of the largest countries in the world, providing a postal service to all Canadians has always been quite a challenge. It is thanks to the ingenuity, persistence and resourcefulness of independent mail contractors that the many obstacles to providing universal postal service in Canada have been overcome. We still need their dedicated service if we are to maintain the quality of service rural Canadians deserve.
We have to consider what the proposed amendment of the member for Winnipeg Centre does for Canadians. Does it improve service? Not at all. Will rural Canadians get their mail any faster as a result of this change? No they will not. Independent contractors have always provided excellent service to Canada Post customers and they will continue to do so.
The member's reference to hostility also catches me a little by surprise. Both the minister and I have met with representatives of the rural contractors on four occasions in the last year. The discussions have been very amicable and are producing very good results. Canada Post unions may benefit however from a few thousand more members who would pay dues but there is no benefit to individual Canadians in the hon. member's bill.
The government believes in creating opportunities for all Canadians as does Canada Post. The opportunity to work as a mail contractor has benefited countless generations of rural Canadians who have often needed to supplement their incomes. The member for Winnipeg Centre wants to put an end to all that. I do not think rural Canadians want to see these contracting opportunities simply vanish.
There is a competitive tendering process that gives rural Canadians the opportunity to perform meaningful work at a fair value. In parts of the country with no nearby industrial or urban area, the chance to have a turn at a decent paying job means a great deal. That chance vanishes once a system is created that only benefits a few to the detriment of many. I find it surprising the hon. member supports a proposal that may well translate into real losses for those Canadians who most deserve and need those income opportunities.
The quality of service rural Canadians have enjoyed for generations and continue to expect is a direct outcome of the competitive bidding process which attracts the most motivated and enterprising people.
The member for Winnipeg Centre wants everyone to believe that rural route contractors are all overworked, underpaid and underappreciated. Simple facts reveal the contrary.
The dedicated men and women who deliver mail throughout rural Canada are all compensated at a fair market value. The majority of contractors often need less than six or even four hours to complete their route assignments leaving ample time for other gainful pursuits. This work is mostly part time and that fact is consistently ignored.
Most important, rural mail contractors in Canada Post are appreciated and recognized for the immense value of the service they provide. In wanting to preserve that tradition of good service, Canada Post is introducing meaningful ways to improve the fair and equitable treatment of all contractors. All rural routes will be contracted on an individual basis. Previous experience coupled with good performance will be regularly considered upon renewal. This will promote the sustained quality of service for rural customers while rewarding the hard work of dedicated mail contractors.
Canada Post will rigorously ensure that the tendering process is accepted as fair and competitive by all participants.
Legislation is not the best way to improve Canada Post's relationship with its independent mail contractors. The previously cited examples of Canada Post's efforts demonstrate that immediate improvement is achievable. Moreover, these changes represent a genuine effort to make co-operation a keystone of the relationship between Canada Post and its mail contractors.
When Canada Post Corporation was created in 1981 through a widely supported act of parliament, it was made clear that Canada Post was to operate like a business. To this day the corporation continues to have the important public mandate of providing postal service to millions of addresses while keeping letter mail rate increases below the rate of inflation. To achieve this mandate, it was and continues to be understood that Canada Post needs to manage its expenses just like a business does.
The financially responsible management of Canada Post has meant taxpayers have not had to subsidize their post office since 1988. By recording modest profits over recent years, Canada Post has been able to balance the financing of its operations with the need to invest in the future but it is still a precarious balance. The fact is that 99 cents of every dollar Canada Post earns must be spent on the annual cost of operations. With this little room to explore its new direction such as that proposed by this bill, the arguments for the prudent management of costs ring as true today as they did in 1981.
This debate cannot ignore the mandate imposed on Canada Post by the Canada Post Corporation Act. No other delivery company is legally required to offer affordable uniform service in every corner of the nation while maintaining financial self-sufficiency. Canada Post has been able to meet this challenge. The hon. member wants to tinker with the act but he is not prepared to acknowledge the consequences of his tinkering.
Contractors are naturally independent. They are entrepreneurs and as such, assume a degree of risk in deciding whether or not to engage in a certain commercial activity. Although they depend on contracts to earn revenue, they realize that the source of the revenue is not indefinitely fixed and they certainly have the freedom to seek revenue from other sources. As small business operators they can make full use of tax advantages not available to employees.
To look further at the importance of the independence of rural mail contractors, I am reminded of the explanation offered by one of my hon. colleagues opposite. It may have been the hon. member for Tobique—Mactaquac. If so, he is to be congratulated. If I recall, his words were: “The nature of this change would remove some of the flexibility for both parties to negotiate an arrangement particularly suited to each individual contractor”. An astute observation.
Every mail contractor faces many challenges in providing effective mail delivery within his or her territory. Therefore, each contract must recognize these unique and varying factors. Imagine the burden of negotiating a global agreement that effectively addressed the regional complexities of all the delivery routes. The cost of administering such a process would be considerably higher than those of a competitive bidding process that takes into account the needs of individual contractors.
When we debate the status of mail contractors, we are not only talking about the men and women who deliver mail along Canada's rural routes. Canada Post mail contractors provide air freight services, expedited parcel services, highway transport and many other services that are essential to moving the mail in Canada. All of these contractors fall within the scope of section 13(5). Alarmingly the sponsor of this bill seems to have missed or ignored the fact that eliminating section 13(5) has far greater implications than changing the status of rural route contractors.
Canada Post has over 7,000 contracts for the delivery of mail. It simply cannot afford to take on thousands of new permanent employees as part of some union membership drive. The numbers speak for themselves.
Canada Post has achieved a measure of financial health which is utterly dependent on a very prudent cost management formula. Identically, the formula for Canada Post's long term viability contained in the recently announced financial framework of the corporation depends on sound financial management. We must stay the course if Canada Post is to continue giving Canadians the service they expect at a price they can afford.
Canada Post must preserve a tradition of service that has benefited rural Canadians for so long. At the same time it must ensure that good affordable service to all Canadians remains a priority. To accomplish this, competing interests must be balanced and the Canada Post Corporation Act does that very well.
Let us not interfere with the success of Canada Post. It has had a fulfilling, challenging career. It is doing a very effective job and I think we should leave sleeping dogs lie.
