Government Operations committee  Absolutely.

Government Operations committee  I think if you look at our submission around the pattern of deception and misinformation from Canada Post on its finances over the last several years, you'll see that one of the issues is that Canada Post often glazes over substantial one-time issues that caused it to lose money.

Government Operations committee  I think one of the bright spots of the task force report is that it actually presents a number of options for some of our pension issues, without affecting the benefits of members or retirees. It puts forward several options. Of course, we'd be willing to talk about anything that moves in that direction.

Government Operations committee  We certainly haven't seen the emphasis on safety that we would like to see at Canada Post. That covers everything from health and safety to our workforce. We know that Canada Post has under-reported their injury rates. There's a major issue there. We're certainly aware of the challenges faced by putting community mailboxes into neighbourhoods that weren't designed for them, and the risks posed to the public.

Government Operations committee  There have been no meetings with senior management and myself since the task force report came out, although we have set one up and within the next couple of weeks we'll be meeting with Mr. Chopra to discuss this.

Government Operations committee  We can see a variety of services. A lot of them would have to be locally developed when we're talking about community hubs. The reason we put some of these ideas forward is that post offices are already real centres in their communities. It could be a good opportunity to showcase, for example, the work of local artists or small businesses.

Government Operations committee  That plan would have to be developed, but if you look at the postal banking report, which Canada Post still refuses to release, it talks about using a “clicks and mortar” strategy. They would leverage both online banking and also their existing retail outlets. As people's banking habits change, it would be situated to make those changes with them.

Government Operations committee  I think it is a solution to a non-problem, to be honest. If you only get mail two days a week, you don't have a letter carrier walking up to your front door with empty mailbags the other three days. We have a route measurement system that accounts for fluctuation in mail volumes, and Canada Post is very well situated to adapt to that.

Government Operations committee  I think if you look around the world at where postal banks have been brought in, this has been dealt with. In Morocco, for example, where they brought in their postal bank six years ago, they established a training centre for those retail members. At the same time, part of our collective agreement allows us to develop these joint projects with management and figure out how that would roll out.

Government Operations committee  As I said, we'll be providing a full list of all of this as we go through it. Simply in the meantime, there's no critique of Canada's banking system, for example, or the banks. There's no analysis of the payday lender problem in this country. In their polling they didn't ask a basic question.

Government Operations committee  I would echo some of the concerns of François around the consultation of Canada Post. They're required legally to consult with us on a number of things, and also contractually. As was stated, it's typically done in a meeting where they simply tell us what will happen, and that's not consultation.

Government Operations committee  If you look around the world, you'll see post offices are doing an awful lot of things. One of the things that we've talked about is a letter carrier program where the letter carrier could check in on seniors who live at home. They have programs like that up and running in France, for example.

Government Operations committee  Sorry, could you repeat that?

Government Operations committee  We've commissioned studies about the viability of postal banking in Canada, and they've all come back with glaring success. But I would suggest that if you'd like to see the revenues, you should ask Canada Post management about their five-year financial projections for postal banking, which they've deleted from the public version of this report.

Government Operations committee  We've certainly had issues with the community mailboxes and we've engaged quite broadly with the public around this, as I'm sure you're aware. Our members have concerns about it. We have concerns about an increase in repetitive strain injuries, for example, if we're required to do the same work over and over putting things into boxes.