Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. McMullen, when you talk about the shrink rate, are you factoring in the events of force majeure, where a community can be down for nine days while your perishable product is sitting at the hub?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As far as the country food issue is concerned, we currently offer deeply discounted rates to move country food between the communities that we serve. We would welcome the opportunity to participate in a formal program through INAC on the distribution of country food. One recomme

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  All I can guarantee them is that, overall, I'll offer rates to the community at large that allow me to recover 100% of my costs and provide a reasonable return to the shareholder in order to generate a pool to replace assets as the assets come due. That's all I can guarantee them

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Definitely it means less volume. Then the challenge is for me to adjust my capacity, my fleet size and the gauge of aircraft, and my flight frequency to meet the demands of the market in a cost-effective manner. Obviously I have to adapt my business model to the market.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think at a multitude of points—we operate at most of the points that are probably being considered as staging points going forward. I think the key issue for us is the volume that gets tendered. As I say, I carry cargo, mail, passengers, medical travel to the northern communiti

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Could I clarify one fact?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You mentioned that in most communities there's only one carrier. We have direct competition in 98% of the communities that we serve, with the exception of the High Arctic, Resolute Bay, Nanisivik, and the southern Baffin community of Kimmirut. Of the 19 communities that we serve,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll go back to my original comments. I find that the process is difficult to quantify at this stage of the game when we can't baseline these changes against anything concrete. What were the costs and issues that the changes to this program are trying to address? What have we acc

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's very difficult.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't know if I understand your question. The staging points are defined as the current entry points over our route network in the east--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We don't have to use those staging points. We will accept eligible product at any of our locations for furtherance on--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, there are. Over our route network, it's Val d'Or, Winnipeg, and Yellowknife.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If our customers want to tender us eligible product at Val d'Or, we would try to move the largest, most fuel-efficient aircraft through Val d'Or. As I say, these fellows are my customers. They dictate the transportation chain.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Of course. The retailers' decisions will determine where we receive freight.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There would definitely be a difference in staging the food mail from Ottawa or Montreal as opposed to Val d'Or. I mean, we're flying large aircraft out of Ottawa, and flying it into Val d'Or 45 minutes later. The cost of that cycle is significant with landing fees, cycle costs, e