Government Operations committee  I don't know what the word is.

Government Operations committee  It's tense at times. She had asked about the consulting, and Alex was addressing it. Here we go again. We have that in our collective agreement where new ideas and those sorts of things can be brought up. There is a panel for different appendices added on, different projects that could be taken on to generate more revenue.

Government Operations committee  I believe that Canada Post would not survive in the north if it were run strictly as a business. It's not going to make a profit in the north, plain and simple. We need the south. We need the south generating the additional revenue with parcels and with everything else to sustain our existence.

Government Operations committee  It depends on when your flight is going to get there. It depends on the weather conditions. It depends on a whole bunch of things. Basically, for the dispatch, the mail goes every day. I would say 30% goes to the communities every second day. It would also depend on the flight whether the mail gets bumped, because people, food, and so on are going to take priority over the mail.

Government Operations committee  Canada Post is profitable, no matter what. It has been over a period of time. Whenever they did that five-point review they went to this board and gave them the information. By 2019 we are going to be in debt by x amount of dollars because of the path we are taking. At the end of that year they didn't have that debt, they made more profit.

Government Operations committee  Services.

Government Operations committee  Okay. You mentioned the Fort McMurray fire, how they used MoneyGram. Is MoneyGram owned by Canada Post? No. MoneyGram is not owned by Canada Post. On MoneyGram you can pay your bills and you can send money worldwide. Canada Post—I don't know the actual figures—would be getting a percentage of the service fees, and they're doing it.

Government Operations committee  To generate their revenues.

Government Operations committee  They're making a bigger profit with the franchises, I believe.

Government Operations committee  Because they don't have the employees, that's what I believe is happening, but the problem is the service. The service is not there. You can't have the customer service. You will not have the repeat service. I have the customers come in. Like I said, I stood there for 15 years with the customers.

Government Operations committee  Correct.

Government Operations committee  From the retail end of it, between every major centre in Canada from Vancouver to St. John's it is a flat rate. There's a consistent rate, just as there is for a standard letter. As you start adding on different legs the price starts going up. Yellowknife to Toronto would have one leg added.

Government Operations committee  Be self-sustaining, but here has to be a little profit as a buffer for the years.... Past a certain point, that's when you reinvest the profit into generating more revenues.

Government Operations committee  They're shifting business for the parcel pick-up, that is, having the people go there. While they're there, if they're mailing a parcel, they'll do it there also. They have the contract. That's how they make their profit, it is for the parcel pick-ups. But what happens, through my experience, there are so many times over that 15 years that they don't have the information to give the customer on how to sell things, on how to get a parcel from here to Ethiopia—

Government Operations committee  No, they can do it. But chances are that a percentage of the time they're wrong, the parcel comes back. So when they go to the Shoppers Drug Mart, they say, “Well, we don't know what to do,” and they send them over to us.