Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  Our vision of Canada Post for the future is a post office that, first and foremost, remains public and acts in the public interest. We believe that Canada Post definitely has to respond to the changes in the communications field, changes in technology. There are lots of alternatives to basic letter mail these days, and we think Canada Post has to meet those challenges.

Government Operations committee  From our perspective, we're very worried about labour relations right now at Canada Post. We're very worried about the relationship the union has with Canada Post at the national level, because we've worked really hard to improve labour relations, and I think we were a definite part of the solution and a definite contribution to the fact that there have been 10 years of labour peace.

Government Operations committee  We're concerned that the new president of Canada Post doesn't understand the union, doesn't trust the union, and doesn't believe she needs to consult with the union or have input from it. She referred to us as a special interest group at a meeting we had recently. We're more than a special interest group; we represent the vast majority of employees that make Canada Post the success story it is.

Government Operations committee  I would say, first of all, that we don't think Canada Post is broken. We don't think it needs to be fixed. We know that Canada Post is a public sector success story. Canada Post has an international reputation in terms of providing quality universal public postal service. Canada Post has one of the lowest postage rates in the G-7 and, I would argue, is one of the best postal services in the world.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. My name is Deborah Bourque. I'm the national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. With me is Geoff Bickerton, our director of research. On behalf of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before this committee.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I would agree with what my colleagues have said about the limitations of the whistle-blower legislation. My union believes it's really important that people who do reveal wrongdoing or do expose information aren't subject to reprisals. I think that's the fundamental principle here, and it's one that we support.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I don't want to take up all the time, because I could go on at length about this, but I would just say quickly that we're not confident that anything has been fixed since the recommendations from the Deloitte audit. I wrote to Gordon Feeney, the chair of the board of directors of Canada Post, and asked what steps had been put in place to ensure that there was compliance with the rules.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I'm not sure if this legislation would in fact have prevented the sponsorship scandal. The problem is that successive federal governments have in fact imported private sector values into the public sector, things such as corporate sponsorships, lavish expense accounts, and exorbitant CEO salaries.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I don't presume to speak to what Canada Post management is thinking, but what I suspect is the problem here is that the leadership at Canada Post sees its commercial mandate as much more important than its public policy mandate at this point. If Canada Post management understood that, yes, they're a crown corporation with a commercial mandate but that crown corporations serve the public good and are frequently required to act in the public interest rather than just simply maximizing profits....

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I can explain. First of all, we've never argued that Canada Post should be required to release information that would undermine our public postal service. As you know, some of the multinational competitors in the courier industry are extremely aggressive and predatory. We think Canada Post should be protected from having to give commercially sensitive information like that.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  No.

Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  On behalf of the 54,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before this committee and to provide the committee with our views on Bill C-2. Due to the time constraints, my presentation will consist of a very much edited-down version of the written presentation that you've already received, and I'll basically start on page 2 of the English and page 3 of the French.