Tag: Canada Post

Mandate Review (Canada Post)

Posted by | Jun 9, 1996 | |

Introduction

In reviewing the mandate and assessing the future of an institution that touches as many lives as Canada Post Corporation, one cannot hope to entirely satisfy everyone. Interests legitimately diverge, and perspectives honestly differ.
What is essential is that every point of view be given a full and fair hearing, and that all available information be objectively and thoroughly assessed. This the Review has made every attempt to do. In carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to me on behalf of the Government by the then Minister Responsible for Canada Post, the Honourable David Dingwall, in November 1995, I have been guided at all times by a determination that the processes of this Review must be as open, accessible, independent and even-handed as humanly possible.
To that end, the Review placed advertisements in 678 newspapers and sent letters to close to 1,000 potentially interested parties, inviting written submissions by the deadline of February 15, 1996. A total of 440 formal submissions and 1,084 letters were received, including petitions from municipalities with a total of 2,480 signatures. To ensure maximum public access, all formal submissions were posted by the Review on the internet. As well, 1,116 telephone calls about substantive issues pertaining to the Review were received from Canadians across the country. This constitutes evidence of a remarkably high level of current nation-wide interest in the role and activities of Canada Post. By way of comparison, the last review of the mandate of the corporation a decade ago received a total of 131 submissions, including letters.
Public meetings were held in March and April in six Canadian cities: Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax, Toronto and Ottawa. Their purpose was to permit the Review to hear first-hand a representative cross-section of the organizations, companies and individuals who had made submissions and to explore their views through brief dialogue. Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), at their respective requests, appeared before the Review in each of the cities. Time was also set aside at the end of each day for members of the general public to offer brief comments. A total of 111 presentations were heard in 14 days of public meetings, not including the representatives of Canada Post Corporation and the CUPW, who appeared at each location.
To ensure that a sampling of the ideas and concerns of Canadians in rural areas could be communicated as clearly as those of interested parties in urban centres, the Review supplemented the formal public meetings with town hall meetings in Witless Bay, (Newfoundland) and Iqaluit, (Northwest Territories) and with focus groups in Bay Bulls, (Newfoundland), Unity, (Saskatchewan) and Iqaluit. Urban focus groups were also held in Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary. A total of 96 individuals participated in these focus groups. And, finally, nation-wide quantitative research with a total sample of 1500 was conducted for the Review by Decima Research.
In order to provide access to the best possible information, the Review also had informal meetings with appropriate individuals and organizations in the United States and Canada. In the United States, the Review met in Washington with Mr. Michael S. Coughlin, the U.S. Deputy Postmaster, and senior members of his staff, as well as with Mr. Dan Blair, Staff Director, Postal Service Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. In New York, the Review met with specialists on the impact of information technologies at Columbia University, and with a panel of experts kindly assembled by the Canadian Consul General in New York, Mr. George Haynal. Here in Canada, the Review held extensive individual discussions with the senior management of Canada Post, including members of the Board of Directors, and with the leadership of all the postal unions, particularly CUPW, as well as with CUPW representatives from across the country. The Re

Read More

Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Mandate review

Posted by | Apr 9, 1996 | |

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers welcomes the opportunity to address the Canada Post Mandate Review.

The Terms of Reference of the Mandate Review Committee cover almost every aspect of Canada Post’s activities.

The Chairperson’s recommendations will have a major impact on the 58,000 women and men CUPW represents.

Postage rates, services, the exclusive privilege, financial self-sufficiency, subsidization and regulation all have a direct impact on the job opportunities and job security of post office workers.

Consequently, it is appropriate that CUPW wishes to deal with most of the subjects examined by the Mandate Review.

We believe during the course of your examination of Canada Post Corporation, you will observe that the men and women who are active in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, at all levels, have consistently demonstrated a commitment to the objective of high-quality public postal service.

When necessary, we have been prepared to use our legal right to strike to obtain negotiated collective agreements. Labour-management difficulties at Canada Post are a well-documented part of the public record.

Yet an examination of the record will reveal that far more of the union’s energy has been devoted to making Canada Post a dynamic, service-oriented public enterprise.

During the course of your work, we believe that you will observe the enormous potential of Canada Post Corporation.

We encourage you, as much as possible, to see Canada Post with your own eyes. We invite you to meet post office workers, at any time, without notice, to exchange views concerning Canada Post, its services and its future. Many myths have developed about Canada Post, its services and its unions. We also encourage you to carefully examine and challenge, when necessary, both the supporters and the critics of Canada Post.

Finally, we ask you to consider that, in 1996, the Canadian Post Office is very much a work in progress.

Read More

Submission by FedEx Canada on Canada Post’s mandate review

Posted by | Oct 9, 1995 | |

The central focus of the mandate review of Canada Post Corporation (“Canada Post”) should be to question the policy rationale for the federal government’s continued presence in highly competitive markets, including courier markets. This presence is contrary to the fundamental policy of the current government as articulated by the Finance Minister in the 1995 Budget Plan.

Federal Express Canada Ltd. (“FedEx”) questions why taxpayers should continue to fund Canada Post’s activities in highly competitive markets, including the substantial future investments that will be required to remain competitive in those markets. FedEx’s concerns, which are shared by a broad range of other stakeholders, are considerably exacerbated by Canada Post’s ability to exploit advantages enjoyed by virtue of its public sector status. These include the serious potential, in the absence of regulation and independent oversight, to use monopoly revenues from its statutory monopoly in first class letter mail to cross-subsidize operations in competitive markets. This has created a widespread perception of unfair competition and threatens jobs, as some private sector firms are forced to scale back their operations to reduce costs in an effort to remain competitive. It may be noted that the perception of unfair competition was a key reason underlying the government’s privatization of many of the functions of Canada Communication Group (“CCG”) last year. In addition, this perception has been at the root of numerous reviews of Canada Post’s activities since its creation as a Crown Corporation in 1982. Unfortunately, Canada Post has persistently impeded efforts by government bodies and others to obtain sufficient information regarding its accounting practices to determine whether it is engaging in cross-subsidization.

The lack of an effective mechanism to prevent cross-subsidization is a very important issue to FedEx and other industry stakeholders. Cross-subsidization of competitive activities with revenues from Canada Post’s letter mail monopoly not only creates an immensely unfair situation for private sector competitors, but also significantly undermines their ability to compete and forces the general public to pay far more than it should for basic letter mail service. Canada Post’s own books, together with statements that have been made by its Chairman, strongly suggest that it engages in cross-subsidization. In any event, the issue is not whether Canada Post may benevolently refrain from cross-subsidizing its competitive activities, but whether it has the ability and incentive to do so when it chooses. It may be noted that this issue raises a serious question under Article 1502(3)(d) of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), which requires Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to ensure that government monopolies do not use their position to engage in anticompetitive practices, including cross-subsidization.

In the U.K. and the U.S., where this issue has also attained a high profile, the national post office has been subjected to much stricter standards, yet questions continue to be raised as to their adequacy. The result has been that calls continue to be made for the privatization of certain activities carried on by the national post office in each country.
Canada Post has enormous advantages not available to its competitors. These include an ability to borrow at the Government of Canada’s preferred rate, immunity from provincial regulations and licensing requirements, special treatment by Customs Canada, exemption from federal income tax requirements and the fact that it is shielded from public scrutiny by extraordinarily weak financial reporting requirements which permit Canada Post to hide inefficiencies and losses under the guise of advancing an undefined and questionable “social purpose”. All of the foregoing advantages further aggravate the unfairness of the situation for FedEx and other industry stakeholders.

Canada Post’s owner

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

What’s the future of the postal USO?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!



View ResultsHide Results

MER Magazine


The Mail & Express Review (MER) Magazine is our quarterly print publication. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, MER is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to MER

 

News Archive

Pin It on Pinterest