Ensuring universal services at affordable rates (Canada Post)

Canada Post Corporation welcomes the review of its mandate as an
opportunity to take stock of its progress and to set priorities for the
21st century. CPC approaches the Mandate Review in a spirit of co-operation ­
co-operation with its employees, with its customers, and with its shareholder,
the Government of Canada. Each of these stakeholders has a vital role to play
in ensuring the future of Canada’s universal, affordable postal service.

Since Confederation, the post office has been a cornerstone of Canada’s
national infrastructure ­ supporting and facilitating economic activity and,
equally important, providing a vital channel for Canadians in every region to
communicate with one another. From the beginning, the postal system has
differed from all other communications and distribution media because of its
accessibility to all Canadians. This commitment to universal access, exceptional
within Canada, has been at the heart of the mission of the postal system in the
past, and must continue to be its defining characteristic in the years ahead.

This submission offers an overview of CPC’s development to date, assesses its
current needs and identifies the requirements of Canada’s postal system for
the future. The perspective that it provides is shaped by four fundamental
realities:

* CPC is the sole organization with a track record of offering affordable and
high-quality services to all Canadians, wherever they live or work.

* CPC must make optimal use of the infrastructure that has been paid for by
all postal users by continuing to offer the services that have been available for
almost a century, in addition to those new services that technology permits.

* CPC must earn a commercial rate of return in order to: maintain and
expand its infrastructure as Canada grows; continue to invest in new
technologies and services; and pay its shareholder the dividends to
which Canadians are entitled.

* CPC must undertake fundamental changes in the way in which it collects,
processes and delivers mail in order to generate returns and be competitive.
Changes of this kind will only be possible through constructive collaboration
among CPC, its unions, and the federal government.

Maintaining universal service in a country that confronts the many challenges
presented by Canada’s low population density, great distances and harsh cli-
mate has been a costly enterprise from the beginning. For over a century, the
postal system was run as a department of government. By 1980, it had generated