Charles Brenchley | CUPE Communications
Throughout the federal election in 2015, Justin Trudeau promised to restore door-to-door mail delivery for all Canadians. Two years later, with an announcement from Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough, this promise has been tossed into the growing heap of broken Liberal promises. Many people, particularly the elderly and the disabled, have been let down.
The government has committed to ending the process of converting home delivery to community mailboxes, but the 840,000 families who lost home mail delivery will not be getting it back.
Still, thousands of activists and postal workers who mobilized around this issue do have something to celebrate. Four million households now know their at-home delivery is safe for now.
CUPE and other unions are now encouraging Minister Qualtrough to explore public sector solutions to improve the services Canada Post offers to Canadians. These solutions include postal banking, a revenue-generator in countries such as New Zealand, France and Britain. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is a strong advocate for postal banking.
In early February, NDP Canada Post Critic Irene Mathyssen put forward motion M‑166, calling on the Liberals to study and move a federal postal banking system forward. As big banks continue to rake in exorbitant profits and abandon communities across the country, postal banking has a void to fill.
Canada Post senior management is in the midst of a large-scale turnover. The search for a new CEO is underway and the successful candidate will be given a mandate to establish better labour relations. There is an opening to improve Canada’s postal services.
Let’s hope this government can stick to their promises, not just break them.
