Letter to Bill Graham

May 24, 2006

Bill Graham
Interim Leader, Liberal Party
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Mr. Graham:

I am writing further to my emails and telephone calls about John McKay's attack on Canada Post's exclusive privilege in the House of Commons (see attached).

According to Mr. McKay, Canada Post is abusing its exclusive privilege and undermining small business people who deliver international mail (a.k.a. remailers). Remailers are not the small businesses McKay says they are. They are very big businesses. For example, Spring Global Mail (SGM) is a global joint venture combining the expertise, systems, networks and products of TNT, Royal Mail Group and Singapore Post. The SGM website says they are the world's largest private international mail provider.

Most remail businesses in Canada ship our mail to small developing countries that have lower postage rates. Developing countries have lower rates as a result of a system that is designed, in part to help developing countries. The remailers essentially abuse this system.

The Minister responsible for Canada Post has indicated that he is looking into the issue that Mr. McKay has raised and that he will be advising the House as to what the government intends to do in the coming days. We hope that this does not mean that the minister intends to change Canada Post's exclusive privilege.

The exclusive privilege exists to help our public post office deliver mail to everyone, no matter where they live in this vast country. During the debate on the Canada Post Corporation Act in 1980, Liberal Postmaster General André Ouellet explained the role of the exclusive privilege. He said that “...the Canada Post Corporation will have the monopoly to transport letters, so as to have a guaranteed source of revenue allowing it to ensure the universality of services.”

In providing Canada Post with an exclusive privilege, Parliament understood that market forces alone could not guarantee a reasonable level of service at affordable prices to all Canadians, particularly those living in remote and rural parts of the country.

Private sector companies like remailers have no interest in providing universal service. They simply want more of Canada Post's business, but without the universal service obligation.

We would like to know whether Mr. McKay is speaking for himself on this issue or the Liberal Party of Canada. If he is not speaking on behalf of the Liberal Party, we would like you or party representatives to make this clear to Lawrence Cannon, the Minister responsible for Canada Post. If he is speaking on behalf of the Liberal Party, we would like to know when the Liberal Party developed this position, why it developed this position and why the party did not assert this position while in government.

Yours truly,

Deborah Bourque
National President

c.c.: CUPW National Executive Board
Regional Education and Organization Officers
National Union Representatives
Specialists
All CUPW locals
Moya Greene, Canada Post President