Government Operations committee  Ours isn't that quick either and we're an hour from the city. Ours has some glitches.

Government Operations committee  There's none that I'm aware of, but I think there should be a pilot project for that. To be honest with you, I think it's an awesome idea.

Government Operations committee  The customers would like it. A lot of customers get very frustrated that it can't be dropped off at the post office, because we are not allowed to accept items from other carriers unless they're paid for. They could make arrangements, and as far as I'm concerned, it would be to the customer's satisfaction.

Government Operations committee  They could do that for a fee.

Government Operations committee  I'd have to refer you to our president, sir. I would take your name and number and have our president answer that, because I don't have the broad knowledge needed to answer that.

Government Operations committee  No, I'm from Carstairs.

Government Operations committee  Yes, it's an ATB, and he does bookkeeping for people, to do their taxes and stuff.

Government Operations committee  I feel, Mrs. Duncan, that we do have to diversify. Our employees, through Canada Post, are all loyal. The loyalty amazes me. To diversify, we could add photocopying in some of the places, because they don't have it. There were some very good presentations by previous speakers, and I really believe that if we took it all together and found a working program somehow, we would be very successful, especially in the rural areas.

Government Operations committee  Our immediate supervisors are local area superintendents. They make sure we're all well educated. They keep us informed and help us. If some of our offices can't be staffed, they'll help us find someone to come in and help out. People get sick, and there aren't many relief people to help us out because we're so isolated.

Government Operations committee  It's quite a few. They just increased it a year ago.

Government Operations committee  For me it's nineteen and nine.

Government Operations committee  I've seen an increase. I think that is because we provide customer service, and our customers come first. I am a postmaster and I encourage my staff to do. Our volume of people in and out has increased significantly. Some of them didn't like to come the post office before, but I'm not cranky.

Government Operations committee  I do.

Government Operations committee  Well, it would be cheque cashing, because that is a problem. They have to travel an hour to an hour and a half one way to get to a bank. A lot of these communities, especially the aboriginal communities....There are 54 communities out of 615 in the entire country that don't have a banking outlet.

Government Operations committee  I can do that. Thank you very much. Term employees are hired for only a particular length of time and are not appointed to an indeterminate or full-time, position. They're not allotted a certain number of hours weekly. Their employment is often precarious. A lot of our employees are on call, so they can go for days without any hours.