I propose a warning:
“Beware of politicians. Common sense eludes”.
Conference Board in Canada recently commented on how Canada Post might deal
with what it calls “serious financial challenges” due to rapidly
declining mail volumes. According to a
CBC News story, the Corporation said it is expecting a “substantial
financial loss in 2013.” Actually,
the amount is $600 million annually by 2020 even if mail costs are increased by
“…10 percent a year starting in 2014…”
The story also
quotes NDP Member of Parliament, Olivia Chow, Opposition Critic, who disses any
notion of cuts to the ‘snail mail’ service.
Said Chow, “it would be wrong for Canada Post to “retreat”
from its mail delivery role. Instead of
contemplating cutting postal services, Canada Post should find new
opportunities to provide better and expanded services on the e-commerce front
so they can increase their revenues”.
has already said e-Commerce would boost only its parcel delivery service which would
not make up for its volume losses on general mail.
The national
mail service finds itself in a position which is very similar to that of the Yellow
Pages Group (YPG), except that Company is not Crown owned. The ubiquitous use of digital media forced the
disappearance of those bulky “Yellow Pages”, in many markets (though not in NL,
yet), sending the Company into rapid decline.
All the equity holders were virtually wiped out. YPG is now trying to survive based largely
upon a digital incarnation. Unlike Olivia Chow’s implication that the Federal
Government should underwrite the losses of Canada Post, there was no such
expectation, on behalf of Yellow Pages, to sustain a service already passé. Nor should there have been any.
of technological change do not occur without leaving a trail of hardship for
those caught up in the maelstrom. Indeed, change need not be inspired only by
digital applications; an ever changing free market presupposes that the supply
chain, and the products and services that it delivers, will all be impacted by
the ebb and flow of changing human needs. It should be noted, Canada Post saw some of these
changes coming and purchased Purolator Courier to respond to on-line purchases
and perform the fast parcel service for which it was not geared. Competition will keep Purolator lean, unlike
it monopolistic parent.
Canada
Post’s problems are shared by postal agencies world-wide. It is no one’s fault. Yet, we constantly look
to our political leadership for exemption from the worst impacts of change.
That is to be expected; but, when a politician’s only counsel is taxpayer
support, that kind of rhetoric is not a palliative anyone can take to the bank. Nor does it allow an Opposition Party to claim
new approaches and better ideas.
course, the ‘duty’ of Opposition politicians to be critical of Government
policies, including how it responds to change. The pressure which Oppositions, Unions and
other interest groups bring to bear is significant and invariably slows down or
contorts the process of change in a way that does not always favour ‘progress’,
no matter how it may be defined.
Most politicians
know that Canada Post services are now substantially associated with the junk
mail industry (that is not to diminish its importance to the economy), they
know that Super Mail Boxes have been a feature of new residential developments since
the 1980s and that people in older neighbourhoods have gotten used to them,
too. Not Olivia Chow. “Cutting
door-to-door delivery to the more than five million Canadian homes that now get
it would be unfair. There are people that aren’t very mobile … who can’t get
to a centralized point”, said the MP.
She might have enlightened us as to what the immobile do in areas already
populated by Super Mail Boxes!
obituary. Postal workers whose jobs may
be threatened as Canada Post shrinks, need more than an Opposition Member’s
hope that the Government will ante up any deficits from an already
over-stretched public purse.
for workers, threatened by change, needs changing.
Gone are the
days of a single employer providing a life-long career, within government or in
the private sector. Employees across
this Country should have no wish to cling to dying companies; what they need is
the flexibility to move from one employer to another without losing important pension
benefits. They need re-training funds and generous re-location incentives, too. Financial stability, mobility and job skills
represent the perfect tool kit for the modern world.
have meant well, but, her Party ought to consider the idea of an employee pensions
strategy that is as mobile as the job market, not the inadequate version Finance
Minister O’Flaherty is promoting. We
need a system that will accommodate workers whether they have one or twenty
employers throughout their working career. Likely modifications to the rules
for RRSPs can do the job simply and easily.
Perhaps, we
should not be too hard on Ms. Chow.
Expect the Conservatives, too, to drag their feet on Canada Post reform
much as it has by slowing the Corporation’s efforts to invest in new
technologies. And, don’t expect any encouragement from public sector unions. They will hold out, to the end, for a defined
benefit pension scheme, only Governments and their Agencies offer, making
pension mobility impossible for many.
become a leader in defining legislation to protect and encourage a mobile
pension system. Add funds for re-training
and to ease transitions; likely, moving to a new job might be no much worse an
experience than ‘grannie’ feels having to pay her power bill over the internet.
Maybe this is really why they are loosing dollars.
Critics allege Tories trying to privatize Canada Post
http://www.lfpress.com/news/canada/2010/06/01/14220216.html
OTTAWA – The Conservative government is paving the way for the privatization of Canada Post, critics charged Tuesday.
A measure included in the federal government's 880-page budget bill, eliminates the Crown corporation's monopoly on international letters – a move that will destroy the postal carrier, say the Liberals, NDP and Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
"This is privatization through the back door," said Denis Lemelin, the union's national president.
Canada Post uses profits from its international service to "subsidize" deliveries to more remote regions of the country, he said, adding the projected $60 to $80 million cut to the corporation's bottom line would affect service across Canada.
"Rural delivery will be compromised and prices will increase," warned the Liberal's critic for Crown corporations, Bonnie Crombie.
"(This) threatens the very essence of the corporation," she said.
NDP critic Chris Charlton told QMI Agency, if the Conservatives didn't fear a "massive public backlash," they would not have buried the controversial measure in a "Trojan horse" budget bill.
The minister responsible for Canada Post, Rob Merrifield, said the government has "no plans" to privatize Canada Post and he denied trying to hide the legislative change in a massive bill.
"Canada Post can compete for international mail, that's not a problem. It will actually make them more efficient and more effective if they can compete in that market," he said.
Merrifield added the opening up of the international market would not affect rural mail delivery.
Liberal Sen. Bob Peterson believes the Conservatives can't be trusted on the issue.
Tuesday, he introduced a motion to further protect rural mail services.
"Despite lofty promises and empty assurances by Canada Post and the government, the fact remains that 42 rural post offices and 55,000 rural mailboxes have been padlocked since this Conservative government came to office," he said.
The Government and Canada Post should be constructively utilizing this vast established network to share and bring more services closer to all Canadians (ex grant availability, services available for ill, aged, or injured and young Canadians, a local source for information on any subject pertinant to Canadians) not desimate it !!!