12.18.2013 10:25 PM

Seniors need exercise

Get ready to be hearing that line quite a bit in the next couple years. This Harper appointee has just put the Conservatives in mortal peril. In two sentences.

Oh, and here’s what he deserves.

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35 Comments

  1. smelter rat says:

    I think he’s on to something. Think of the money to be saved if seniors get out in the fresh air and toss their trash onto the garbage trucks on their own! Why they could even be provided with snow shovels to clear the streets during winter. Good health all around, I say!

    • harvey bushell says:

      You may be on to something big here. There could be a whole new cottage industry created around getting the elderly to exercise… giant hamster wheels could be used to create energy to help heat their homes (with the added advantage of getting them to work up a sweat so the thermostat could be turned down a notch or two- everybody wins!). Who says the Cons don’t take energy conservation seriously?

      • dave says:

        Maybe we seniors could get a cut rate on the postie uniforms so that when we go tot the community mail box people will know we are exercising.

        • harvey bushell says:

          Well, since you’re wearing the uniform anyway you could pick up and deliver all your neighbor’s mail while you’re at it. What a utopian work force.. make them buy their own uniforms, work for free and get health improving exercise all at the same time. And they be so healthy they’d be able to work well into their 80’s and 90’s… no need for retirement!

    • Swervin' Merv says:

      If I were federal Minister of Government Dismantling, I wouldn’t rest content with terminating home delivery of mail. Other levels of government need to consider following the federal lead, especially in reducing the many public services provided by cities and towns.

      It would be more efficient if residents carried their garbage to neighbourhood parks and deposited it there in big bins rather than expecting trucks to pick up individual containers in front of every home. (Unfortunately, recycling pickup has been moving in the wrong direction, from community bins to individual home pickup, undoubtedly with extra costs.)

      With the high costs of underground infrastructure renewal, like fixing or replacing decaying water pipes, municipalities need to look at whether taxpayers can afford to maintain water service to every lot, instead of simply having a communal water pump at the end of the street.

      Urban school boards could also follow this lead by cutting back on school bus routes. Instead of students being picked up at home, they could walk further and wait for pickup on major arterial roads. This would save both gas and paid labour time for drivers.

      It would be harder to break the connection between homes and government for some essential public services like firefighting, but contracting out to the private sector might produce some innovative ways to further reduce costs and service delivery.

      There appear to be almost limitless ways to not provide public services.

  2. James curran says:

    Actually W., it’s his boss that should be fired. But I mentioned that to you a long time ago.

  3. Craig McKie says:

    I saw him say this and I immediately thought of all the elderly people who live alone in their own houses around me and who have been encouraged to stay there in the interests of reducing care costs. The sidewalk shoveling has been canceled and now mail delivery? What in God’s name are the Tories thinking? Drowning a shrunken public service in a bathtub? After sloughing off the damaged military veterans, the United Nations, a competent Census, judicial discretion, the Federal role in improving the CPP, and whatever else that was kind and providential, they have sent me to the fringes of being embarrassed to admit I am Canadian. These vile people must be sent home to Mordor soonest.

    Can the GG call an election on his own?

  4. Gerry says:

    Not to take away the silliness of the comment, but as a senior who gets my mail from a super mailbox, I must say I do enjoy the fresh air and social interaction that I’m forced into when picking up my mail, LOL!! The old dog who goes with me doesn’t seem to mind it either. I guess for folks who have been walking to mailboxes for 20 plus years, his statement seems like a simple fact; but I can sure see where not everyone would be amused by it.

  5. david ray says:

    Ok. What’s the catch. Deepak Chopra is a Con appointee who delivers mail by asking seniors to jump over snowbanks? Deepak fucking Chopra? Nah. Really? Is this April 1? Who’s gonna commit political suicide right before us next? Is this a Rob Ford nationwide bonehead contagion? No? Oh OK. Deepak Chopra? Wow. Whodathunk.

  6. Ian Turnbull says:

    When I read the reports I figured it was a light hearted moment. Watching the video amazed me that he said it with a strait face. Even if the guy was told this information and believed it, how many brain cells does it take to realize how stupid he would sound saying it. All along I thought this was about reducing costs…little did I know it was all about senior fitness. It was so nice of him to educate us simple Canadians on how real companies like Canada Post make business decisions.

  7. Paul says:

    Weird stuff… as Warren mentioned last week these guys are so out of touch in fancy offices , no accountability, ridiculous perks and buyouts …if 8000 need to go , start at the top, then the ridculous layers of managment and deliver the mail twice weekly ..

    • Ted H says:

      22 vice presidents!!

    • Ottawa Civil Servant says:

      Wow, who knew there were so many populists among the Liberal ranks?

      Decrying the perks of a guy who runs a company of 71,000 employees and thinking a few management cuts will save it, when its pension fund is $6,500,000,000 underfunded just speaks volumes.

      The mistake here is in allowing it to get into the state it’s in. And the idiocy of suggesting it expand into banking, which has been dormant for decades, is stunning. The billions being spent by banks to stay technologically ahead of the curve would crush any meager effort CP could mount.

      Like the childish 1% protests, this a cry against a changing world. Something self-described Progressives should support.

      • MedEditor says:

        I gotta call BS on this comment.

        The post office already does some banking — in the form of postal money orders — but they can’t even do that effectively, admittedly.

        My twenty-something son, unemployed for several years now in this miserable economy for young people, has no bank account. To help him out, we send him small amounts of money from time to time. I used to write cheques. He has to go to those leechy cash stores to get his money, and they skim a lot off the top — or in one case, flatly refused to cash my cheque to him even after calling us to verify.

        Aha, I thought — Canada Post! I can send a postal money order since they are “cashable at any postal outlet” according to the CP Web site.

        Long story short, after spending half a day busing from one postal outlet to another, my son still had to go to a leechy cash store to get his money (for a another fee) because NONE of outlets he visited, including one inside a Shopper’s Drug Mart had enough money in the till to cash a $140 money order.

        In other words, I paid $7 for service neither he or I received. And when I complained, I was called by a very nice person who explained that they were sorry, but that was just the “way things are.” When I said that I had given them money for no service and why should I EVER trust them to live up to the contract that my payment implies, he repeated the mantra: Sorry, but tough luck. They even had the nerve to follow up with an e-mail message announcing that my complaint had been “resolved” and would now be considered closed. They’ll never get another penny from me for this service. I’d rather risk sending cash — yes, in the mail .

        In a world in which service is what acquires and maintains customers (and believe me, I know this because I run two small businesses), the current management is not interested in the least in customer service. They are out to take your money while doing the least they can in exchange.

        I would be a very happy repeat money order customer at $7 a pop if I hadn’t encountered this idiocy. Banking functions through CP makes eminent sense. IMO, fire the lot, and find someone who will take a hard look at the service aspect and find ways to balance it with enough income to survive.

      • Ian Turnbull says:

        Actually its 32 VPs. The CEO failed to mention yesterday that he has another 10 VPs tucked away in his IT Department which he runs as a separate wholly owned subsidiary (with all the associated overhead).

        Nobody would deny that the digital economy is devastating the traditional lettermail business or the tremendous pension deficit that overhangs the company. Drastic measures are required now only because they (CPC and its Shareholder) did not address the problem properly years ago despite everyone predicting it. Good leaders start at the top and lead by example. They look at cutting management and back office functions (HR/Fin/IT) before they cut front line customer facing employees and customer service. There 5 point plan should have been a 6 point plan with number one being restructuring of their management and back office.

        Running a 71,000 person, multi billion dollar company does require certain leadership skills and experience. What credentials did this guy have? How did he get the job? What was the process to hire him? Who was directly involved from the government? Answers to those questions might be of great interest to Canadians and the Opposition parties.

  8. steve says:

    Have the Conservatives written off Ontario as well. For what seem pure Tim Hudak, they have rejigged the transfer payments, taking away more than half a billion from Ontario, and giving a billion more to Alberta.

  9. Marc-André Chiasson says:

    I’m a 68 year old senior, and right now, the most important and pressing form of exercise I want to practice is to walk down to the ballot box and vote these idiotic Conservative politicians and their patronage-laced appointees out of office.

  10. smelter rat says:

    22 Vice Presidents. WTF??

  11. Kevin T. says:

    Too bad my dad’s stroke left him in a wheelchair, he really enjoyed the exercise of getting his morning mail, and, you know, walking. I want to punch that fool in the face, instead, I’ll make a little donation to our next Prime Minister.

  12. PP says:

    Warren, you might be missing something here. This might be a prelude to the Harper government coming out with the fitness tax credit for seniors (so that they can walk to collect their mail). Coming on the heels of Moore’s stupid statement on hungry children, and Rob Ford’s even more stupid antics, these guys must believe that the Conservative supporters are either so committed, or so dumb, that they can do or say anything and still retain their votes.

  13. Kevin T. says:

    So far this week, Cons have denigrated starving children and the elderly, what’s next, women, because deep down they really want to have out-of-touch old white men decide what they can do with their bodies? I expected the Cons to aim for a strong end of year, but this is just trying to out-stupid the last dumbass.

  14. patrick says:

    What is it about the neo cons that detaches them from any conscious understanding that they will in a world with other people, that the world isn’t just an ideological construct, and that their actions have reactions.
    And why is it that the people most affected by their actions vote for them.
    I understand nothing.

  15. Riaz Khan says:

    Of course seniors need exercise and kids can feed themselves. That is a new Canada my friends. And we have to thank Mr. Chopra, Mr. Moore and his boss for that to remind us. I am soooo happy that these guys are running Canada and not that elitist, not-so-Tim-hortons-coffee drinker-out-of-touch-harvard-oxford-graduate who was such a snob who did not come here for us.

  16. po'd says:

    Re: Mr. Deep Chop, Harper’s latest complicit vessel in his quest against the old, the fragile, the poor and the disabled. See the Globes Editorial Cartoon today.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/december-editorial-cartoons/article15688440/

    Or this from the CBC.

    http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2013/12/canada-post-ceo-deepak-chopra-blasted-by-cbc-readers-as-arrogant-and-out-of-touch.html

    I’m wondering if this guy gets advice on what to say from Vic Toews or one of the Rob’s in Conservative wonderland? Maybe it’s the PMO, without the guidance of what’s his name, Finley wasn’t it? The CPC can’t seem to carry out a decent illicit operation since he got on his way. They appear extra clumsy now. Almost as if they already know 1993 is coming again and they just don’t care. Payday is already waiting for the upper echelon?

    Meanwhile, the bills keep coming for John and Mary Q. Things like those crazy defense expenditures and all the contractors and consultants that earn large, for something or other. No one seems willing to explain.

    Looks a lot like corruption to many. Maybe you could write about that, or use Sun News and give them a bit of legitimacy.

  17. JH says:

    Yep. Damn those Conservatives the postal troubles including the $6.5 billion underfunding of the pension plan started with them! Puleeze, partisanship is alright and even expected, but in this case really? For instance someone asked about this guy Chopra’s qualifications? What were Andre Ouelette’s? The fact that he was a Liberal cabinet minister? Or that he got fired by Martin because the organization was embroiled in the sponsership scanda or that he didn’t invoice for thousands of dollars in expenses he charged and handed out untendered contracts? Martin was right by the way to fire him and WK is right that Chopra made a dumb comment, but really? Some of you think this all started with the Harper government or even with Ouelette for that matter? C’mon, get real here.

    • Ian Turnbull says:

      The right answer was to privatize and deregulate Postal 5 years ago when the organization still had value. Moya Greene the prior CEO took the idea to Harper and it was shot down. She then left to run the Royal Mail and has just finished doing what should have been done here. Harper then proceeded to put the current guy in place. Just because prior CEOs were not qualified doesn’t excuse Harper with this one.

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