Government Operations committee  The difficulty of setting a national post rate too high—and I got this from Mr. Chopra himself on the phone once—is that private couriers would undercut that rate on high-volume routes, like Toronto to Montreal. I asked if he thought that some sort of regulation needed to be introduced to stabilize the market and make this functional, then, and he ran as far as he could in the other direction.

Government Operations committee  Again, for someone like me, fulfillment out of a warehouse doesn't work, because I'm selling unique items. It's not like I have a box of signed Pierre Trudeau memoirs and they can simply pull one and ship it every time one sells. Actually, I have a couple.... The problem is that there are various coping mechanisms that have developed to try to mitigate the impact of the Canada Post pricing model.

Government Operations committee  The main point I would make is that e-commerce represents a tremendous opportunity for growth. In countries that have postal infrastructure that allows for it, it's growing much faster than it is in Canada, and it's growing in a more distributed way. We have a postal system that basically allows only people living in a couple of major centres to enter the market.

Government Operations committee  Again, certainty about pricing would be the main thing.

Government Operations committee  Yes, along geographic lines. I understand that a 5 kilogram art book is going to cost more than a paperback. I accept that, and I can factor that into my pricing of the item. I had somebody buy a $4.99 paperback from me. They were living in a rural community in Alberta. It would have cost me $15 to ship it to them.

Government Operations committee  Oh, yes. I know that by treaty they're not allowed to charge foreign sellers zoned pricing based on delivery. I'm just saying that if you can't do it to them, then you shouldn't do it to us. Why would you give them certainty about price and not give it to Canadians?

Government Operations committee  Briefly, sellers based outside of the country know what it will cost them to ship anywhere in Canada. Sellers in Canada have no idea what it will cost them to deliver products.

Government Operations committee  As for the solution I would propose, you often hear that Canada has various geographic and demographic challenges, but in Australia they use flat-rate e-commerce bags. If it fits in the bag, it costs you one price.

Government Operations committee  Yes. You can find a product that works. If they can deliver a product nationally for Amazon for $2.50 but they charge me $9 to $25 to ship, I'm guessing there's somewhere in the middle where we would all be happy.

Government Operations committee  All I would say is that you need to decide what you want e-commerce to look like in this country, whether you want it to be distributed nationally, or whether you want it to be dominated by foreign-owned corporations.

Government Operations committee  Thanks for having me here. My name is Gary Kirk, and I'm the owner of A Good Read bookstore in Toronto. Twenty years ago, as a hobby, I started selling rare books online. Nine years ago, that hobby had grown to the point where I was able to open a bricks-and-mortar store, and I now have four employees.