Government Operations committee  As a former city councillor, I always think it's good that our local governments get the recognition and consultation they deserve.

Government Operations committee  I'm a bit of an outside observer of some of this, but—

Government Operations committee  As an outside person, I find it interesting that there is no representation of workers on the Canada Post board. If you want to get a more collaborative approach—and that's something that we actually do pretty well here in the north, with our co-management systems through land claims agreements and so on—why not have some union representation on the board?

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question. I do think that is partly the case. In some of the small communities that I visited, one of the few federal offices is Canada Post, and it does represent a national service in a way that brings together Canadians so we can transact business, correspond, and so on.

Government Operations committee  No. You have to go downtown to the post office to get your mail. There are no community mailboxes. Up until about the mid or late 1990s, you still had to go downtown to get your mail at the post office.

Government Operations committee  The unemployment rate differs between Yellowknife and the communities. In Yellowknife it's quite low. It may be 5%. In some of the communities it can be as high as 30% or 40%.

Government Operations committee  I don't think I could speak on behalf of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities. I believe you have Sara Brown on the next panel. It's difficult to engage rural Canadians, and particularly the ones in the north, because of some of the poor communications and transportation issues that we've all discussed here.

Government Operations committee  Maybe I could speak just very briefly. I had to handle an estate for somebody here in Yellowknife, and the cheapest way for me to get it from here down to Ontario was Canada Post. I checked bus parcel express, air freight, moving companies. I know that Lynda and her staff have handled people moving from Yellowknife down south, and the cheapest way for people to move stuff sometimes is with Canada Post.

Government Operations committee  I think it's most important that we have a good public service. Self-sustaining is possible, but if it does require some inputs occasionally from taxpayers that's the kind of country that Canada is.

Government Operations committee  I looked at the annual report of Canada Post, and I couldn't figure out how much the philatelic revenues were. I've heard it might be as high as $20 million. Stamp collectors buy stuff that's not used to pay for a service, essentially, other than the printing cost, and distribution, and stocking, and that sort of thing, so it's a very big margin for the corporation.

Government Operations committee  Sure. I would be happy to do that. I did check out the website for the organizers. They haven't completed all of their analysis and so on, and I suspect that will be part of it. I'll be happy to provide that to the committee, or I'll at least endeavour to find out when it's available and provide it to the committee.

Government Operations committee  There was a move to do that back about 1975 or 1976 and people didn't want it, for a couple of reasons. They wanted to have a post office in the downtown area that was a hub for the community.

Government Operations committee  Even here in Yellowknife, we have the main post office, and there's one almost across the street at a Shoppers Drug Mart, but it's in the back of the store. I've been to both of them. I have a post office box downtown. I prefer to go to the counter and pick up my mail there, and deal with folks who know all of the Canada Post services.

Government Operations committee  Look, I'm not a banker, but there are probably ways to put in place the proper checks and balances. We do have cash advance places here in Yellowknife, and they tend to be used by the poorest, most marginalized parts of our community. They charge outrageous rates, and it's just not fair.

Government Operations committee  Sure. It's in my speaking notes, but to summarize, Dettah's population in 2015—and it's across the bay from Yellowknife here, about a 25-kilometre drive away—is 252 people; Edzo has about 500 people, and it's about an hour away; Enterprise, which is on the road south of Hay River, has 115 people; Hay River Reserve has 325 people; Jean Marie River has 84 people; Kakisa has approximately 50 people; and Nahanni Butte has 94 people.