It’s been just over a week since a strike shut down Canada Post for the second time in less than a year. And there’s still no indication of when or how service will return.
The effects of the post office shutdown vary greatly, and where postal users live is a crucial factor. Our colleague Matina Stevis-Gridneff has written an article about the vital importance of the postal system in Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories.
[Read: In the Far North, Canada Post Is Not Just the Mail. It’s a Lifeline.]
On Friday, Canada Post presented its latest contract offer to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. The offer, which reflected the government’s orders that Canada Post end door-to-door delivery and cut the number of rural post offices, included an end to job guarantees and laid out the process and compensation for employees who would be laid off. The union swiftly rejected the offer as worse than the one its members had turned down in August.
The article linked below explains what you need to know about the dispute.
[Read: What to Know About the Canada Post Strike]
Our thanks to the large number of you who took our invitation last week to share what you want from Canada Post. Here’s a small sample of your responses, which have been edited for length and clarity.
A warm welcome
The post office in Arundel, Quebec, located in the former train station, is an important community center. You are assured of a warm welcome in both official languages from the postmistress and a chance at some good conversation with your neighbors.
The postal service is a service — it connects the community, the country and (despite the recent U.S. tariff mess) Canada with the wider world. It is about far more than delivering letters and packages.
— Anne Balcer, Barkmere, Quebec
A letter carrier’s pride
I’m a proud letter carrier who lives and works in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. The importance of letter mail for an individual is now directly related to that individual’s position in society. The more precarious your position, the more likely you are to depend on letter mail for your survival.
I am a relief letter carrier, so I cover other letter carriers’ routes while they are on vacation. One of the things I’m most proud of when it comes to my job is that every day I deliver to neighborhoods that are well off, neighborhoods that are middle class and neighborhoods that are experiencing hard times. Everyone receives the exact same service.
— Kevin Delaney, Hamilton, Ontario
Going paperless
Our daily mail delivery ceased about 10 years ago and was replaced by a community mailbox about a block from our house. I don’t mind not having home delivery. The only regular mail we get are fliers, the water bill and one credit card statement (I am looking into going paperless with those last two).
Canada Post should be maintained as a service and not demand that it must be profitable, but I would prefer they still retain mail service to community boxes. As long as it is run as efficiently, I don’t care that it is not profitable.
— Barry Ripley, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
A business headache
For merchants who ship high-value products, Canada Post is certainly the best option. We use alternatives whenever Canada Post goes on strike, but we do so reluctantly and shipping costs are much higher.
The on-again-off-again nature of this dispute has been deeply disruptive and extremely frustrating. It sure seems to me that the union leadership is negotiating as if Canada Post is not in dire straits. Ultimately I think it is the federal government’s job to clean up this mess.
— Alex Sebastian, Toronto
A dinosaur
I believe the Canada Post corporation should be wound down over the next five years. With the technology at hand today, there is no logical reason for at-home mail delivery or even community mailboxes. I don’t know of any seniors who don’t have a connected phone or iPad.
Ninety-nine percent of the mail I receive goes straight to the recycling bin — what a waste of resources. Companies have many other ways to reach the consumer, and charities need to rethink their funding drives and not waste time and money sending me cards, grocery bags and pens that I end up discarding. Canada Post is a dinosaur, and the government knows this. Unfortunately, the postal workers do not.
— Loretta Grandan, Calgary
A different relationship with the mail
As seniors, we have a different relationship with the mail than younger people. We sometimes get paid by check in the mail. And we check the community post box daily, although usually it contains mostly nothing. We send birthday cards and postcards on purpose.
I am thankful for the experiences of going into post offices in small stranger communities and chatting with the always-friendly workers, of hearing the language of a place while hanging out in there, of letter writing, of mail anticipated and received, and the geographical impression I have of this country partly because of the existence of the postal system.
— Sandy McLennan, Port Sydney, Ontario
Trans Canada
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Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with President Trump at the White House next week after cautious indications that the U.S. might modify or reduce some tariffs against Canada. Earlier this week, Mr. Trump further increased tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.
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The wrath of Canadians, who have shunned travel to Las Vegas amid President Trump’s trade war, is a major cause of the city’s declining tourism.
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Leo Gerard, the longtime president of the United Steelworkers who transformed it into North America’s largest industrial union, died in Sudbury, Ontario.
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A new study published in the journal Science has found that costly and deadly wildfires are on the rise.
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Can bathhouses fix our loneliness problem? Melissa Kirsch, a Culture editor at The Times, looked for clues at a bathhouse chain founded by a Toronto entrepreneur.
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A research group led by a professor at the University of Toronto identified what could be the world’s oldest leech species from a fossil found in Wisconsin.
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With the U.S. government shut down, the star attraction at several American air shows will be the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds precision flying team.
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Immigration kiosks at Toronto Pearson International Airport faced tech outages twice this week, but operations quickly recovered.
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A warning from the Toronto police in May 1990 led a defiant Madonna to strike a provocative pose for the cover of Interview magazine that June, in what T Magazine called one of the 25 most influential magazine covers of all time.
Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
Vjosa Isai is a reporter for The Times based in Toronto, where she covers news from across Canada.
How are we doing?
We’re eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to [email protected].
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Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
Vjosa Isai is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Toronto, where she covers news from across Canada.
The post What You Want to See Emerge from the Canada Post Walkout appeared first on New York Times.
