Science and Research committee  Thank you both for your testimonies and for your thoughts on this study of distribution of federal government funding among Canada's post-secondary institutions. If there is additional information that we didn't get to, please submit it to the clerk. Before we close, I remind colleagues that we have the study on Canada's Arctic in relation to climate change coming up.

Science and Research committee  Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(i) and the motions adopted by the committee on Tuesday, January 30, and Thursday, February 15, 2024, the committee is resuming its study on the distribution of federal government funding among Canada's post-secondary institutions. It's now my pleasure to welcome and thank our witnesses for coming this morning. First, from the Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, we have Dr. Ben Cecil, president and CEO.

Science and Research committee  Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(i) and the motions adopted by the committee on Tuesday, January 30, and Thursday, February 15, 2024, the committee resumes its study on the distribution of federal government funding among Canada's post-secondary institutions. It's now my pleasure to welcome, in the room, from the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, Philippe-Edwin Bélanger, president, and Dr. Fahim Quadir, vice-president.

Government Operations committee  I'm getting to this next question as a result of these two and that is considering Canada Post's current financial situation. What do you feel are the key priorities for ensuring that Canada Post is financially stable and can provide quality service to all Canadians regardless of their postal code?

Government Operations committee  Thank you. I know you're aware that Canada Post has been running significant deficits for a number of years. Again, they stated that they are trying to refocus on their core business. They have actually sold off two profitable companies as a step toward that.

Government Operations committee  I can speak for my members. They have not received that kind of increase. We're in negotiations right now. Canada Post has their compensation models for the executives. We all know they all received bonuses throughout the pandemic. I would ask you to speak to Canada Post about their compensation plan for upper management.

Government Operations committee  Chair, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. I want to go back to the employment data that's being collected by Canada Post, because I believe it has a significant impact on your compensation. In 2021, Canada Post changed how it reported employment figures by including full-time, part-time, temporary, casual and term employees, rather than just full-time and part-time employees.

Government Operations committee  Perhaps I'll start my questioning with a question to Mr. Jones and ask him if he could lay out the mechanism by which Canada Post allows post offices to close in the face of the moratorium. How is this allowed to take place? What are the steps that we see occur? I think there are some trends that we see across rural Canada when we see communities go from having a proper rural post office, a Canada Post post office, to a mailbox in the side of the road.

Government Operations committee  Canada Post offers different services. Xpresspost, depending on what area you live in, could be a next-day or two-day delivery. They also have “Expedited” services, which are offered to small businesses.

Government Operations committee  I had a lot of pride for Canada as you were speaking this morning. Thank you so much for that. I'm going to begin with Mr. Jones. Considering Canada Post's financial situation, what do you feel are the key priorities to ensuring Canada Post is financially stable and provides quality service to all Canadians regardless of where they live?

Government Operations committee  With low population density and high delivery costs, much of rural Canada is significantly underserved by Canada Post’s private sector competitors. In fact, its competitors have turned to Canada Post for the last mile of rural delivery. Clearly, without the rural postal service, the private sector is not going to fill the gap.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for appearing before us. In 2003, Canada Post agreed to recognize rural route contractors as employees, represented by CUPW. They're known as rural and suburban mail carriers. In 2005, CPAA signed a memorandum of agreement with CUPW that a bargaining unit of the rural and suburban mail carriers was appropriate.

Government Operations committee  We're in bargaining right now to try to get one collective agreement because we feel that both bargaining units do the exact same work. For us, the difference is that Canada Post, even though RSMCs are employees, is still making these members provide their own vehicles and pay for their own gas. We were able to eliminate that in the urban collective agreement years ago.

Government Operations committee  You have this disparity. You have these regional differences. You have this tremendous amount of pressure on Canada Post to get through these financial concerns. We want and need to have national distribution, but we have conflicting matters. We have another world out there at our heels. What do we do to provide that quality service?

Government Operations committee  Canada Post is looking at.... If you look at Manitoulin Island and Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, you'll see that it's looked at enhancing the services through what it's calling “hubs” in order to see what would help drive extra revenue into that local post office and community.