Canada Post workers walk a picket line as they start their strike action in Toronto on Nov. 15.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Better business
Re “Canada can learn from Trump and cut its bloated bureaucracy” (Report on Business, Nov. 20): I believe the focus on eliminating civil service employees as a means to improving government efficiency is wrongheaded.
An excessive number of employees and low organizational efficiency are not root causes – they are consequences of poor processes. Improvements begin with redesigning and transforming the process itself. Nothing new here: Thirty-four years ago, the Harvard Business Review described business process re-engineering for that purpose.
As a management consultant back then, I developed a systematic BPR method, taught BPR courses and led BPR projects in many organizations, including the public sector. In every case, an end-to-end redesign resulted in dramatic improvements in both process efficiency and output quality, as well as significant reductions in direct and indirect labour that were redeployed more productively. Win-win.
So before we start to “learn from Trump,” let’s see how Elon Musk et al. handle things. Starting with job cuts would be exactly the wrong approach.
Bob Rafuse Beaconsfield, Que.
Split roles
Re “Stop playing defence against cyberattacks” (Editorial, Nov. 20): “This space has argued that the RCMP needs to be split between its local policing functions and a national force dealing with larger issues.” I would go one further.
Policing is essentially a provincial responsibility, yet because of some arcane arrangements from over 100 years ago, the federal government has been responsible (and accountable) for many local policing activities across the country. But if Quebec and Ontario can have their own police forces, then so can other provinces.
Then the RCMP can have all of its focus on national crime such as cybercrime and money laundering.
Randy Tait Toronto
All of it
Re “Parliamentary business” (Letters, Nov. 20): I believe the Liberal House Leader has lost the plot.
Our parliamentarians have requested all documents related to spending irregularities. End of story.
In trying to rationalize her government not doing so, she sprinkles in what I see as the usual fearmongering: “Imperil the Charter rights of all Canadians,” “a dangerous precedent,” “political witch hunts,” “partisan games.”
If our elected Parliament cannot find out how our tax dollars are spent, I truly wonder what kind of government we have. Canadians deserve so much better.
Colin Lockhart Carleton North, N.B.
No mail
Re “Inside the Canada Post labour dispute” (Morning Update, Nov. 19): Three hundred and sixty-five days.
If I, as a small business owner, gave myself a year to complete a vital task and I failed miserably to accomplish my goal, the only sensible conclusion would be to call it a day and fire myself.
Canada Post and the union had a whole year to resolve the dispute. Yet instead of showing any kind of humility or remorse in response to this colossal failure, both sides, like petulant children, dug in their heels with an unbearable hubris that insults every Canadian who relies on Canada Post, whether it be for important personal reasons or the viability of hundreds of thousands of small businesses.
There are always sides in a dispute. After having to endure repeated strikes, rotating strikes, slowdowns and lockouts (forgive me, but I’ve lost count), the only side I support is that of Canadians who have put up with this over and over again.
Rachel Hershfield Cornwall, PEI
Canada Post has offered its employees 11.5 per cent in wage increases over four years for an average of 2.785 per cent each year. I wonder what management salary increases will look like after the strike.
Years ago, as a teacher, my union members voted to accept a two-year deal. If I recall correctly, we got 1 per cent the first year and 0.5 per cent the second. We’d gone a number of years without an increase, but accepted that times were hard.
Later, when the director of education got 13 per cent and superintendents got 9 per cent, we learned a lesson: The more we sacrificed, the more administration would get.
Perhaps if Canada Post management agreed to the same small salary increase in their next contract, we’d be one step closer to completing negotiations.
Robert McManus Hamilton
An unintended casualty of the Canada Post strike is the charitable sector.
Coming in peak fundraising season, charities rely on year-end campaigns for the majority of their income and, even in a digital world, rely heavily on traditional paper-based fundraising mailers. When the mail is not delivered, these campaigns cannot happen and money is not raised. That significantly impacts important programs.
The charitable and non-profit sectors contribute almost $200-billion to the Canadian economy. Governments and Canadians are increasingly reliant on charities to cover basic needs and address important issues.
Charities are already tested in these economically uncertain times. This is one more challenge for the sector, one that will dig an even bigger hole for many struggling organizations.
Colin Saravanamuttoo, Executive director, World Animal Protection Toronto
Re “With Canada Post workers striking, it’s time to revive the privatization debate” (Report on Business, Nov. 20): Canada Post presently offers a range of services, some of which are profitable and others not. The latter would include delivery of mail to remote or rural areas at the same price paid by customers in more “convenient” locations.
In the event of any partial privatization of Canada Post, private companies would cherry-pick the profitable services, leaving Canada Post with only loss leaders to build a future on. That would truly be an unsustainable model.
David Bright St. Catharines, Ont.
Power up
Re “My EV delivers plenty of perks … and parking tickets” (Report on Business, Nov. 18): For home fast charging of an Hyundai Ioniq 5, our electrician said we had a choice: Upgrade to a 200-amp service from 100 amps, at large initial and ongoing costs but enabling us to use commercial chargers, or stay at 100 amps and use a Wallbox.
We did the latter. It works like a charm, with our car going from a 30-per-cent charge to 80 per cent in about five hours. We even set it to come on automatically at 11 p.m., when lower electricity rates apply.
So we set it up when going to bed and wake up to an 80-per-cent charge. Slow house-current charging is no comparison.
Larry MacDonald Oak Bay, B.C.
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