Dear MP Zimmer,
In your recent letter you defended the announced Canada Post service cuts/fee increases as changes necessary to move toward a sustainable economic model. I won't argue against change. After all, as Robert Gallagher once waxed, "Change is inevitable...except from vending machines."
However, while this may not invoke HST-like rage, many Canadians, especially seniorand disabled folks, will certainly not enjoy the reduced standard of living imposed by community mailboxes and rising postal fees. Therefore, tough questions need to be asked.
I want to know if job cuts will include Canada Post executive and managers? Some have claimed that the organization is top heavy. If so, will this not worsen if only weather-hardy letter carriers lose their jobs? How will the composition of these cuts be communicated?
Others have stated that Canada Post has been profitable before the hiring of the CEO Deepak Chopra. And, last year, while the company lost money, he was given a 33 per cent bonus to push his salary over $500,000. Should the restructuring of corporate bonuses and sky-high executive salaries be considered before making Canada the first industrialized nation to end door-to-door delivery? Should we expect better ideas from these high-paid executives than a cutting service and boosting prices? Could we not have gotten this level of thinking from unpaid interns?
Also, I wonder if Deepak Chopra can be trusted? He doesn't believe belonging to a think tank that schemed changes to CP is a conflict of interest, but what would a typical Canadian say? And lets ask seniors if they agree with Chopra that they will appreciate community mailboxes for the exercise opportunities they provide. Exactly how much citizen consultation was done?
Chopra also claimed that Canadians should have been aware major changes would be coming. However, a recent poll of 10 members of my service club, all said they were surprised. And, why wasn't Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in the loop? He states that hiking postal prices will have significant impacts on business owners. Why were they not consulted?
Finally, I am also very curious if any Conservative MPs, such as yourself, asked questions of Chopra during a parliamentary committee on Dec. 18?
As you can see, I have plenty of questions and wonder if your constituents would be better served by inquiry instead of the reinforcement of political messages?
Greg Jonuk
Prince George
