Finance committee  Good afternoon and congratulations to the new parliamentarians. For those who don't know us well, we represent 109,000 small and medium-sized businesses across Canada. All of them are independently owned and operated, and we are strictly a non-partisan organization. I did want

Transport committee  Look, it's not an option we're in love with. It was an option business owners said they could live with. Where Canada Post is going to find the space is a question that I haven't a sweet clue about answering. I do understand that the community mailboxes, for the most part, will

Transport committee  This most recent data, no, because we actually hadn't even closed the survey. We hastily did that after the announcement came out. We have done several surveys on Canada Post issues over the past and have shared those results but had not shared this data with Canada Post because

Transport committee  We always do. The survey had been out in September and October of this year. The plan was to put together a report, present it to Canada Post, and present it to members of Parliament but we didn't have time to do that.

Transport committee  Absolutely, yes. The thinking is that we'll still publish the results at some stage, although the wind has been taken a bit out of the sails of the survey given that Canada Post has announced its plans.

Transport committee  For the metered cost, the cost increase is less significant. I don't have the full sheet in front of me with the rate hikes by category, but it will be less significant. Many businesses in that category that send 50 or more pieces of letter mail per month wouldn't have a business

Transport committee  For one thing, we do believe that far more needs to happen on the cost-reduction side than on the price-increase side. I have to tell you that while I know Canada Post is in a bind, our prediction is that this is going to hasten people's leaving Canada Post. Instead of leaving in

Transport committee  We have had regular meetings with Canada Post over decades. We did do some survey work. We have met with them. I can't tell you the exact last meeting...but on the specifics of the five-point plan, no. We've talked about some of these themes before. We've certainly talked to them

Transport committee  On the specifics of the five-point plan, no, but as I said, we've had ongoing meetings with them on a variety of subjects.

Transport committee  My reaction is that it is disappointing. We would have certainly lobbied against those moves. The thing that we're reacting to with the greatest sensitivity is the massive, massive price hike. On that front, we were absolutely not consulted.

Transport committee  On the morning of the announcement, we did have some back-and-forth with Canada Post officials, in which case they predicted accurately that we wouldn't like the price hike side of the equation, hoping that we would support other aspects of the plan, which is true. Some of the co

Transport committee  That is how it was presented. Again, I wasn't the one taking the call specifically, but at no point was it suggested to me that this was an idea at Canada Post, but rather that this was the plan, and that, barring, I suppose, any cabinet intervention, this was how they were movin

Transport committee  To be fair to the corporation, we have had meetings over the years at which we have provided feedback and comments to them. There has been a two-way discussion on many aspects, some of which are covered in the five-point plan, but on the price-hike side there was no discussion wi

Transport committee  Well, we don't like the price increase and are suggesting that it be rejected, or sent back to the drawing board. At the very least we would like it to be phased in. I mean these are huge increases on small and medium-sized firms, many of which are not doing particularly well at

Transport committee  Thanks very much. I'm very happy to be here today. We've been hearing a lot about Canada Post from small and medium-sized businesses that are members. At CFIB we have 109,000 small and medium-sized companies spread across Canada in every province and in two of the three territo