TUESDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2005
CANADA POST APPOINTMENT
The Crown Corporation’s Board of
Directors has selected a candidate for the role of President, and made
the recommendation to the Minister Responsible for Canada Post, the
Hon. John McCallum. Approval of the appointment is subject to
governance process criteria recently announced by the Treasury Board
for all Crown Corporations: The Board of Directors establishes and
advertises selection criteria, interviews final candidate(s),
recommends the candidate to the Minister, who reviews and submits the
candidate for appointment approval through a Parliamentary Committee.
This process, though rigorous, is not intended to unduly slow
appointments, rather it is to reinforce transparency and
accountability. An internal study of five Crown Corporations prepared
for the Finance Department in 2004 raised some concerns over the
appointment process changes, one of which is the ability to recruit
from the private sector, potentially limiting number and quality of
candidates. The retirement of current Canada Post President and CEO,
Anne Joynt, is scheduled for April 2005.
CROWN CORPORATION GOVERNANCE
In what he stated to be “…the most
comprehensive review of Canadian Crown Corporation governance in 20
years.”, Hon. Reg Alcock, President of the Treasury Board tabled his
report in the House of Commons February 17. Minister Alcock stated the
report goes well beyond questions that had been raised by the Auditor
General in her recent examinations of the management of Crown
Corporations, and positions Crown Corporations to excel as models of
good governance.
The
report identifies more than 30 measures to strengthen oversight,
management and accountability. Along with the appointment process, the
report calls for:
•
the government to clarify accountability structure for Crown
Corporations: the responsible Minister will be identified as the
government’s representative and the Minister’s accountability to
Parliament for the discharge of responsibilities related to this
role to be affirmed;
•
Ministers to be ultimately accountable to Parliament for the overall
effectiveness of Crown Corporations in their portfolio, in addition
to being answerable for all activities of the Crown Corporation,
including its day-to-day operations;
•
the government to reinforce the notion of active ownership;
•
the development of a certification regime for financial statements
that would be adapted to the reality of Crown Corporations;
•
extension of the Access to Information Act to 10 of the 18 Crown
Corporations,
currently outside the provisions of the Act;
•
development by the government of mechanisms to protect commercially
sensitive information of seven other Crown Corporations before they
come under the Act;
•
amendment of the relevant legislation to allow for the appointment
of the Auditor General of Canada as the external auditor or joint
auditor for all Crown Corporations.
ADMAIL SURVEY DELIVERS
IMPORTANT ROADMAP
According to 2004 customer survey
highlights (national survey of 1500 customers) released in
PERFORMANCE (Jan/Feb 2005), the good news is that Canada Post has
strengthened its knowledge about what customers value in direct mail
products: Addressed and Unaddressed. The survey highlights, however,
indicate major improvements are required if customer loyalty and
usage (read volume) are to improve. Reportedly 46 per cent of
customers gave answers indicating their “loyalty” was hesitant or at
risk: loyalty for purposes of this survey was defined as customers
who buy more and recommend the product(s) to friends and colleagues.
Issues identified include expense, time consuming to prepare for
Addressed Admail; the price for Unaddressed was seen as below
average but so was performance compared to competition. Canada Post
also scored poorly compared with other direct marketing service
providers on areas that (reportedly) matter most to the market,
including problem resolution, product delivery, reputation and
image, and service culture.
Canada Post sees the survey
results as a roadmap to improvement where the
Corporation needs to invest time and
money. Admail is the engine of growth for any postal administration,
and Canada Post acknowledges the importance of building this
business. Two important ideas put forward from a Canada Post sales
perspective, resonate with discussions held in NAMMU workshops. Dan
Hewitt, Admail Quality Improvement, states emphatically in the
PERFORMANCE article: “We need to change the way we think about this
product. Admail is not ‘filler’. It is mail and must be treated as
such.” Jean- Marc Nantais, Enterprise Marketing, provides a “first
step” resulting from the survey: “We also have enough information
now to create a marketing campaign targeting ad agencies, which
strongly influence how advertising dollars are spent in Canada.”
More information:
executive@nammu.org
CANADA LIFE TAKEOVER FUELS GREAT-WEST LIFECO RESULTS
Ray McFeetors, President and CEO of
Winnipeg based Great-West Lifeco, says the 2004 strong financial
performance is mainly the result of the $7.2 billion deal that
brought Canada Life Financial Corp. under the corporate umbrella in
2003. Lifeco saw its 2004 profits rise 34 per cent to a record $1.6
billion from $1.2 billion the prior year. Great-West Lifeco Inc. is
a financial services holding company with interests in the life
insurance, health insurance, investment and retirement savings and
reinsurance businesses. Holdings include The Great-West Life
Assurance Company, and its subsidiaries: London Life Insurance
Company and The Canada Life Assurance Company. Lifeco is a member of
the Power Financial Corporation group of companies.
WHAT DOES THE LOGO MEAN?
An organization permitted to
display the NAMMU logo is a member in good standing of the National
Association of Major Mail Users. NAMMU delivers leadership,
information, education, influence and effective action on all
postal, logistics and distribution issues; related government
advocacy; marketing practices; public policy concerns; and the
development of industry best practices. The logo identifies
organizations linked through NAMMU with access to information,
programs and collective influence that effectively achieve their
business objectives.
Membership matters.
Know someone who needs to be a NAMMU member?
membership@nammu.org
NAMMU is the voice of
the Canadian mailing industry, representing the business interests of
end users and the supplier infrastructure. The Canadian mailing
industry employs >500,000 individuals, across all economic sectors
and
contributes >80 per cent of the revenue and volume of Canada Post
Corporation.
