Statement made on 20 April 2010 by Senator Maria Chaput
Hon. Maria Chaput:
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. In Manitoba, there are 31 post offices designated as bilingual, and two of them are in urban areas. One of those two urban offices designated as bilingual is located at 208 Provencher Boulevard in Saint-Boniface. This post office has provided services in both official languages for many years. It is a federal office where services of equal quality in both official languages are available for the two language communities.
Now we hear that Canada Post is thinking of closing this office. It would be shameful to close one of the two urban offices designated as bilingual.
My questions are as follows. Has the minister responsible for Canada Post done an analysis of how the closure of this completely bilingual office would affect French-language services for the public?
Has he considered the impact in terms of loss of French-language services, which runs counter to the purpose of the act? Will he ignore the impact this closure will have on the urban francophone community's right to be served in its own language? On what criteria did he base this decision?
Lastly, could the minister ensure that she obtains answers to these questions before the final decision is made?
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