By: Sofia Chassomeris, Peak Associate
Like many of us recently, Canada Post has a money problem: they don’t have enough. On September 25, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) strike resumed in response to a statement by the minister of government transformation, public works and procurement. Minister Joël Lightbound declared that Canada Post would end door-to-door delivery and restructure to sustain itself financially. As a reminder, the strike began in November 2024 and was forced to halt by the government a month later. This pause, along with unresolved negotiations over key bargaining issues, surrounding wages, safe working environment, among other issues, ultimately led CUPW to adopt a rotating strikes strategy. This strategy is used to maintain pressure on Canada Post, while minimizing disruption to the public.
As a public service, it should only need to break even, but the company claims it hasn’t been able to in eight years. Canada Post is a Crown corporation, which is a government owned entity that seeks profit like a business, while under orders of the federal government. The introduction of the Canada Post Corporation Act in 1981 outlined “the need to conduct its operations on a self-sustaining financial basis,” which severed the service from government funding in exchange for a nationwide monopoly on letter mail. This means Canada Post, as we know it, does not run on taxpayer money; it uses the money it makes from stamps sales and parcel delivery to cover the cost of delivering mail. Of course, there’s been a notable decrease in letter postage since the dawn of the digital era. Competing retail and delivery services are also able to offer cheaper shipping by mistreating their workforce. Canada Post is noted to be mistreating their workers as they are negotiating for better safety protocol and healthcare benefits. And yet, according to the corporation, the revenue can no longer cover operating costs or offer the union wages that match inflation.
The interests of the CUPW are principally at odds with the interests of the corporation. For example, one of the union’s key demands is improved wages for the employees, considering the overall rising costs of living, and the lack of reciprocal rise in wages by Canada Post. Unsurprisingly, they had most recently tabled a worse version of previous offers to the union. In an open letter to the minister of labour Patty Hajdu, the national president of the CUPW, Jan Simpson, expressed that the announcement is dismissive of significant negotiations while maintaining unaccountability for its negligence. She clarified that calls to restructure are intentional ways to discourage employees and shift the public’s blame onto them.
Mail has been a fundamental Canadian service for correspondence since the 19th century. These days, anything slower than instant is inconvenient, and the implications of a dying postal service are cause to worry.
Prior to 1981, mail delivery was run through a branch of government called the Post Office Department with a Cabinet Minister overseeing its finances. Nearly 45 years later, we’ve come back to the government using loans from tax dollars for the postal service. Instead of acknowledging the service’s necessity and the dignity of thousands of Canadian workers, the federal government has decided not to fund Canada Post beyond a $1 billion “bailout” loan earlier this year to keep the company afloat. It’s here we see that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “spend less and invest more” mantra translates abysmally to policy that actually benefits Canadian workers. This struggle reflects a broader shift in Canadian governance; one that increasingly prioritizes corporate profit and state surveillance over public welfare and workers’ rights.
Following his party’s federal win in March, Carney has flaunted several “nation-building” projects, such as doubling LNG production here in Kitimat, BC. His framing is: spending equals loss, and investment equals gain.
I can’t help but feel this is a sinister abuse of the fact people think “good economy” equals “personal survival.” Inflation’s going down, and groceries still cost more than ever.
But it’s easier to blame your mail carrier than it is to imagine a government that cares.
Bill C-12 (the newest iteration of the Strong Borders Act) has already completed second reading in parliament. When it was introduced, the bill allowed warrantless mail searches. Written into the Canada Post Corporation Act are the guarantees of security and privacy — it’s currently illegal to open, keep, or hide someone else’s mail, save for a few cases under an Act of Parliament. Even though this has been removed in amendments, it’s disturbing that this was even proposed because mail is the most secure communication we have.
Bill C-12 threatens how we communicate online. If passed, the bill could allow police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to obtain “lawful access” to internet providers’ client account data without a court order. The amendments put forward in C-12 are a breach of privacy hidden behind the flimsy pretext of safety. If the government can do something without a warrant, in this case intercept communications, then they will create grounds for suspicion to do so.
Criminalizing political opposition is not new within the Canadian context; it has always been an integral aspect. Just as the government forced CUPW workers to stop the strike, this shows how the Canadian government cares more about profit than its people. For example, three Indigenous land defenders (Sleydo’, Shaylynn Sampson, and Corey “Jayohcee” Jocko) upholding ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law) were given suspended sentences to be served if they continue to defend their land from construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. According to Amnesty International, land defenders are consistently, continuously, and aggressively surveilled by police.
Carney’s “nation-building” is not only premised on economic growth that won’t help us, but it also manufactures the “need” for increased suppression as a solution to silence the voices raised in opposition.
It positions First Nations as obstacles instead of allies, perpetuating colonial violence and barrelling further from real truth and reconciliation.
If the Liberal government wants to take seriously its claim to “build Canada strong,” it should invest in Canada Post instead, and by extension, their postal workers, connecting and actually resourcing out-of-reach communities. Postal workers have already been planning how the service can grow and adapt with us; the government could take initiative to have delivery trucks replaced with electric vehicles and invest in domestic manufacturing for them. It could create jobs building facilities and a coast-to-coast system of charging stations. To compete with private delivery services, the government could grant the corporation a monopoly on small parcels as well, which would lessen Canadian dependence on giants like Amazon. In addition to expanding CUPW positions, this would employ many Canadians with livable wages and job security that has been so scarce. The only thing stopping this from being a feasible reality is that it will not make CEOs or their investors disgusting amounts of money. But Carney, employing Canadians is only a waste of money if you don’t care about them.
Email your MP and the Minister of Labour in support of the CUPW at cupw.ca/en/campaign/resources/take-action-stop-attack-canada-post
Support the Wet’suwet’en land defenders legal fund at chuffed.org/project/yintahlegal
