Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The best comment I can make is that we are working very closely with INAC to ensure that we have the smoothest transition possible. The people of the north are Canada Post customers, and they're going to continue to be Canada Post customers long after the food mail program has changed over to Nutrition North.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The contracts normally last five years, mostly because it requires a significant amount of infrastructure to meet the needs of northern communities. Will one community be subsidized more than another? I can speak only to how we have done things in the past, because I do not know what will happen once the new program is in effect.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In theory, yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I am not in a position to comment on the new program because I do not know enough about it. My focus is still the program we have been charged with until March 31.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Around 30 carriers provide the shipping to everyone up north. About 23 of those 30 carriers are also responsible for shipping products under the food mail program. Before a contract goes to any of these suppliers, we run a competitive process. A request for proposals is issued. The bids are assessed according to very specific criteria.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are about 12, including Yellowknife, Whitehorse, Winnipeg, Val-d'Or....

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, not at all. The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs tells us where we can send shipments under the food mail program.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's correct. There are approximately 17 people employed by Canada Post who do food mail inspection at various entry points across the country.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let me begin by saying that Canada Post has been involved in food mail for many years, and we are quite proud of what we have accomplished with this program. As for the quality of the food mail inspections, we didn’t inspect all the food that went to the north, but we were mandated by an act to inspect certain amounts of the food, and the food that we inspected and shipped was of high quality, or met the quality standards when it left the airport.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I would suggest that we set very competitive rates. The contracts we’ve signed with the airlines were all tendered through an RFP process. There was a competitive marketplace out there and we used it. I am not familiar enough with the new program to know about the prices, or what the impact will be under the new program with the airlines.