Category: Canada Post Group of Companies

In the wake of the government’s bombshell announcement of service cuts at Canada Post, the official story is one of unavoidable financial collapse. We’re told that letter mail has vanished and that our public postal service simply can’t compete in the modern parcel market.

But what if that’s not the whole story? What if the crisis driving these cuts has been deliberately engineered from the inside? A closer look at the relationship between Canada Post and its profitable subsidiary, Purolator, raises deeply troubling questions that every Canadian should be asking.

The Undeniable Conflict of Interest

Let’s start with a fact that hasn’t been part of the national conversation: Canada Post is the majority shareholder of Purolator.

Furthermore, the CEO of Canada Post also sits on the Board of Directors for Purolator. This isn’t just a business curiosity; it’s a glaring, undisclosed conflict of interest. The same leadership team is responsible for the success of two supposedly competing entities. This begs the question: whose interests are truly being served?

Follow the Parcels, Follow the Profits

The timing of Canada Post’s financial freefall is highly suspicious. Over the past 22 months—the exact period of tense contract negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)—Purolator has been posting record profits.

How is it possible that a subsidiary is thriving while its parent company, which operates in the same market, is hemorrhaging cash?

The argument from postal workers is simple and compelling: management has been systematically diverting profitable parcel work from Canada Post to Purolator. This strategy starves the public postal service of revenue, creating a manufactured picture of failure. The work and the profits haven’t disappeared; they’ve just been moved to a different balance sheet—one that isn’t beholden to the same public service mandate or union contract.

The Best Network, Sidelined

The idea that Canada Post can’t compete is absurd on its face. Canada Post possesses the most significant, robust, and far-reaching transportation system of any parcel service in the country.

• Unmatched Reach: Mail and parcels are moved six days a week to every corner of Canada.
• Incredible Speed: A parcel picked up in Toronto can be delivered in Ottawa within 24 hours.
• Public Trust: Many Canadians and Canadian businesses actively prefer Canada Post for its reliability and universal service.

With these incredible advantages, how could Canada Post’s parcel market share have plummeted from 62% to 24%, as the government claims? It defies logic—unless the decline wasn’t a natural market event, but a managed outcome.

Why Is No One Asking the Obvious Question?

The most baffling part of this situation is the government’s silence. Instead of challenging the clear mismanagement and conflict of interest at the top of Canada Post, the government has accepted the narrative of failure. They have chosen to punish the public with service cuts and postal workers with contract-breaking mandates.

The evidence suggests this isn’t a story about an obsolete postal service. It’s a story about a manufactured crisis, designed to weaken a public institution, break its union, and justify a privatization-by-stealth agenda.

Before we accept the end of door-to-door delivery and the degradation of our postal service, we must demand answers. The government’s first action shouldn’t be to cut; it should be to investigate the leadership that steered our public post office into this ditch while its private subsidiary sped away with the profits.

Share this post if you believe Canadians deserve an investigation, not service cuts.

Sources

Canada Post Annual Reports Archive (for 2016 Report): https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/doc/en/aboutus/financialreports/2016_ar_complete_en.pdf

Canada Post Annual Report (for 2023 Report): https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/financial-and-sustainability-reports/2023-annual-report.page

Parliamentary Report: “The Way Forward for Canada Post” (2016): https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/OGGO/report-7

Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Campaigns: https://www.cupw.ca/en/campaigns

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Article on “Manufactured Crisis”: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/why-%E2%80%98crisis%E2%80%99-canada-post-manufactured

CBC News Article on Canada Post’s Business Model (2016): https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-post-review-lockout-1.3667504

On September 25, 2025, the Canadian government announced a massive and controversial overhaul of Canada Post, triggering an immediate nationwide strike and sparking a national debate about the future of our postal service. Citing an “existential crisis” with losses piling up at $10 million a day, the government has set a new course for the Crown corporation.

But what does this all mean for you, your mail, and your community? Let’s break down the key changes and the heated debate surrounding them.

The Big Changes: A Four-Point Plan

The government’s plan, announced by Minister Joël Lightbound, is designed to save the struggling corporation over $420 million annually. It’s based on recommendations from an industrial inquiry commission and focuses on four major areas:

1. The End of Door-to-Door Delivery: For the 4 million households still receiving mail at their doorstep (mostly in older urban and suburban areas), service will be phased out and converted to community mailboxes over the next several years. This is the single biggest money-saver, projected to save $400 million a year.
2. Rural Post Offices at Risk: A 30-year-old ban on closing rural post offices has been lifted. The government argues this will allow Canada Post to “right-size” its network where locations overlap, but rural communities fear losing a vital hub.
3. Slower Mail Delivery: The requirement for five-day-a-week letter mail delivery is ending. Service could be cut to just two or three days a week for non-urgent mail, and delivery standards will be relaxed from 2-4 business days to 3-7 business days.
4. Higher Stamp Prices: The process for approving stamp price increases will be streamlined, giving Canada Post more flexibility to raise its rates more quickly.

Why Now? The Government’s Case

The government painted a grim picture of Canada Post’s finances to justify these drastic measures. The corporation has lost over $5 billion since 2018 and required a billion-dollar cash injection earlier this year just to meet payroll.

This financial collapse is blamed on two key factors: a 70% drop in letter mail volume over the last two decades and a failure to compete in the booming parcel delivery market, where its market share has fallen from 62% to just 24% since 2019. Minister Lightbound framed the intervention as an unavoidable rescue mission to save a national institution from bankruptcy.

“An Attack on Public Service”: The Union’s Response

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), representing 55,000 postal workers, reacted with fury. Blindsided by the announcement, which came in the middle of a 22-month labour dispute, the union immediately called a nationwide strike.

CUPW argues that the government has sided with management to gut their collective agreement and is imposing changes that should have been negotiated at the bargaining table. They warn that cutting services will only drive more customers to private competitors, creating a “death spiral” that will worsen the financial crisis. Instead of cuts, the union advocates for expanding services, like postal banking, to generate new revenue.

What This Means for Canadians

The impact of these changes will be felt differently across the country.

• For Rural Communities: The potential loss of a local post office is more than an inconvenience; it’s the loss of a community hub and, in many small towns, the only physical federal government presence.
• For Seniors & Persons with Disabilities: Advocacy groups have condemned the end of door-to-door delivery, calling it a vital service for those with mobility challenges who rely on it for medications, cheques, and a crucial point of human contact.
• For Businesses: While many business groups agree that the reforms are long overdue, they are now facing the immediate economic harm of a full-scale postal strike just before the busy holiday season.

A National Debate: Is Canada Post a Business or a Service?

The events of September 25th have forced a fundamental question: Should Canada Post be run like a competitive, self-sufficient business, or is it an essential public service that must be maintained for all Canadians, regardless of cost?

The government has clearly chosen the path of business-first. The coming months will determine if this gamble can save the corporation or if it will permanently diminish a service that has connected Canadians for generations.

What are your thoughts on these changes? Let me know in the comments below.