Canada’s state-owned postal service reportedly ground to a halt Thursday night after unionized workers walked off the job in protest of sweeping reforms announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.
The measures, aimed at reversing years of losses, would eliminate door-to-door mail delivery, close post offices and slash operating expenses at the taxpayer-funded corporation.
“In response to the government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all members at Canada Post are on a nationwide strike,” the Canadian Union of Postal Workers declared in a terse statement posted online. The union, which represents 55,000 employees, declined to respond to repeated requests for comment. Canada Post officials also remained silent.
The strike comes after Public Works Minister Joel Lightbound laid out what he called a stark fiscal reality for Canada Post. The Crown corporation, he said, is “effectively insolvent,” requiring a one-time $700 million federal loan earlier this year just to stay afloat and meet payroll. “Repeated bailouts from the federal government are not the solution,” Lightbound told reporters.
Canada Post has reported more than $3.6 billion in cumulative losses since 2018. The decline of letter-mail has been dramatic — volumes have fallen nearly 70 percent since 2006 — while the corporation has steadily lost ground in the booming parcel-delivery market, tumbling from a 62 percent share in 2019 to just 24 percent today. “Canada Post faced an existential crisis,” Lightbound said, adding that “immediate changes” were unavoidable if the service was to survive.
The minister’s plan, announced Thursday, centers on replacing door-to-door delivery with community mailboxes, which already serve more than 70 percent of Canadian households. The shift, he said, would save $300 million annually. While the change will primarily affect older urban neighborhoods that still receive doorstep service, Lightbound argued it is a necessary modernization.
Other cost-cutting measures include closing select post offices, reducing delivery standards from two to four days down to three to seven, and ordering executives to trim corporate overhead. “The goal is ultimately to save Canada Post,” Lightbound insisted. “There are choices we have to make as a government.”
The strike marks the second major disruption in less than a year. A nearly monthlong walkout late last year ended only after Ottawa intervened to force employees back on the job. That dispute was centered on wages. Workers had already rejected new offers from Canada Post in July, despite ongoing mediation, setting the stage for the sudden walkout after Thursday’s announcement.
Canada’s struggle mirrors global trends as traditional mail services lose relevance in the digital age. Denmark announced it will end letter-mail delivery entirely by 2025, citing a 90 percent collapse in mail volumes, while Deutsche Post in Germany cut 8,000 jobs this year in a $1.1 billion cost-saving effort.
Still, the Liberal government’s hard pivot stands out in a country where public-sector unions have long wielded considerable power. With Canada Post hemorrhaging more than $7 million a day, Lightbound suggested the government had little choice. “There are choices we have to make as a government,” he repeated, underscoring a message many conservatives argue Ottawa should have delivered years earlier.
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