Government Operations committee  Well, I'm quite proud of my union's record for the past 25 years of fighting to defend rural delivery, both delivery to rural mailboxes and the maintenance of post offices in rural communities. We've been pretty consistent on that for the last couple of decades, and my union would oppose vigorously any attempt by Canada Post to put rural delivery into community mailboxes.

Government Operations committee  No, because we don't think it's necessary.

Government Operations committee  With all due respect, that's simply absurd. We're not arguing that every rural route is unsafe or that even every home on particular routes is unsafe.

Government Operations committee  We do agree it's a balancing act. We have to balance the entitlement of rural residents to home delivery, quality public postal service, and good delivery and good service with the right of our members, under the law, to have a healthy and safe workplace. Workers have that right under the law in this country.

Government Operations committee  We haven't been provided with this IBM study. I don't think there's a consistent approach to providing the union with studies. Sometimes we get them and sometimes we don't.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I think fairness and equality are important principles, and I would argue they are part of what the universal service obligation speaks to—equality of service, no matter where you live, whether in a rural or urban community.

Government Operations committee  You're speaking about arbitrator Dulude's arbitration decision. Canada Post has appealed that, or has sought judicial review of that decision.

Government Operations committee  No, there have been hearings.

Government Operations committee  It depends on the complexity of the arguments and the amount of evidence. So I'm not sure how long that judicial review would take.

Government Operations committee  Okay. That's what I'm going to talk to you about. What we'd like to see is the involvement of the local joint health and safety committees that are structured under the Canada Labour Code. They're in every workplace and they're accessible in those workplaces. We would like to see those local joint health and safety committees review the routes to identify the problem spots.

Government Operations committee  And that's what we're doing.

Government Operations committee  We want the local joint health and safety committees involved.

Government Operations committee  Our health and safety department has been working with Canada Post ever since this problem surfaced. Three of our representatives spent two weeks in Fredericton driving around and looking at every route, because Canada Post pulled mail delivery from 1,100 households last week. We had them drive around and look at every one of those delivery points on those routes.

Government Operations committee  We have been doing that. Our national union representative—

Government Operations committee  Well, it hasn't been me at the table on this. We have a national union representative who's responsible for health and safety. We have a transition committee that works on rural and suburban mail carrier issues. They've been really involved in working with Canada Post at the VP level and at the health and safety rep level at the national joint health and safety committee.