Canadian mail delivery has come to a halt as postal workers protest new orders by the government for a drastic overhaul of the service.
Canada Post, a government-owned company, is in deep financial trouble that officials say will require measures once considered a political third rail, like ending door-to-door mail service and shutting some rural post offices, to save millions of dollars and keep the postal service viable.
Official reviews of the postal service have long recommended such cost-cutting measures, which were announced last week by Joël Lightbound, Canada’s minister for public services. The timing comes as the government is in labor talks with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which has been pushing back against any potential service and job cuts.
Why is Canada Post on strike?
Declining mail volumes have led to growing financial losses from which Canada Post has not been able to recover, relying instead on cash injections from the government to stay afloat. Parcel delivery has not been able to make up the difference, in part because of the glut of delivery companies that use nonunion gig workers to compete with Canada Post.
Canada Post has lost more than 5 billion Canadian dollars, or about $3.6 billion in U.S. currency, since 2018. Canceling door-to-door delivery for four million homes, consolidating services and shutting down some rural post offices would help the company save millions, the government said.
But such cuts would also threaten significant layoffs among the service’s 68,000 employees, which was a main reason behind the union’s decision to strike. Other issues that led to the strike included wage increases, rights to rest periods, meal compensation and other job protection measures.
The union has also taken issue with the government’s decision not to conduct public consultations and accept feedback from Canadians before it went ahead with its plans for major changes at the postal service.
Jan Simpson, the president of the postal workers’ union, said the minister’s announcement represented “a direct assault on our public post office, the public’s right to participate in political processes, and good, unionized jobs across the country.”
What will the strike mean for mail delivery?
The strike, which began just hours after the minister’s announcement on Sept. 25, is the second time in less than a year that postal workers have walked off the job.
After striking for several weeks, the postal workers returned to work without a new contract last December. They soon began other job actions, like temporarily refusing to work overtime and halting the delivery of advertising leaflets during negotiations.
Mail delivery will stop for the duration of the strike, affecting letter mail and businesses that use Canada Post as their primary parcel delivery company. Most Canadians receive their mail in individual boxes in a central, community mailbox near their homes or apartments.
The service disruption is already affecting municipal business in Calgary, Alberta’s largest city, as it prepares for elections in October. The city has asked that residents who request a mail-in ballot pay the fee to use another company to submit their votes.
How long is the strike expected to last?
The union has not said how long it anticipates the strike to be, and negotiations are ongoing. The last strike, which began in November 2024, lasted for just over a month, until the government forced postal employees back to work.
Canada Post said in a statement that it was disappointed by the strike and that the union’s contract proposals would add new costs that the company cannot afford.
The government’s move to shrink the postal service has left the union in a far weaker position, said Stephanie Ross, a professor of labor studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, adding that both the union and the postal service are fighting for their survival.
Many experts believe that the end of this strike will come down to government intervention.
What are some Canada Post alternatives?
Some of the most common services for nationwide shipping include FedEx, UPS, DHL, Canpar Express and Purolator, which is owned by Canada Post but operates as a separate business entity with workers represented by a different union.
But in some rural communities and other isolated parts of northern Canada, none of these companies offer services. These far-flung places rely on Canada Post for the final leg of mail and parcel delivery.
Ian Austen and Jyoti Thottam contributed reporting.
Vjosa Isai is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Toronto, where she covers news from across Canada.
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