A 1994 moratorium on rural post office closures could be revised to save Canada Post money, says the Department of Public Works. Federal researchers quietly polled Canadians on alternatives including one proposal to bypass the moratorium by redefining “rural.”.“Canada Post cannot close post offices in rural areas or convert them to less expensive franchises due to a temporary freeze, also called a moratorium, that was introduced by the federal government in 1994,” said a department report Indigenous Peoples’ Views On Canada Post Services. “The moratorium prevents the closure or franchising of more than 3,000 post offices.”.“This list has remained unchanged since 1994,” said the report. “Since then many of these protected locations have become urbanized and their populations have grown significantly.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, the department paid Environics Research $113,005 to poll rural postal customers on whether they would accept changes to the 1994 policy. “Most, 84%, agree with a continued moratorium with updated definitions of ‘rural,” said Peoples’ Views..“A smaller majority, 62%, agree with a modified moratorium where rural post offices are replaced with franchises,” said the report. “By comparison fewer than four in ten, 39%, agree with ending the moratorium altogether.”.Changes are required “to address Canada Post’s revenue shortfall,” said the report. The post office reported a $490 million pre-tax loss in 2021 following a $779 million loss in 2020, $153 million loss in 2019, $276 million loss in 2018 and combined pre-tax profits of $388 million in the period from 2014 to 2017..The 1994 moratorium followed the closure and privatization of retail postal services in more than 1,500 communities over a seven-year period. A subsequent 2008 Strategic Review Of The Canada Post Corporation recommended cabinet bypass the moratorium “with a new approach founded on a more realistic and practical definition of ‘rural’”..Liberal MPs opposed the measure at the time. Critics complained rural post offices saved from outright elimination saw reductions in service, including Saturday closures..“This is death by a thousand cuts,” then-Liberal MP Judy Foote (Bonavista-Burin, Nfld. and Labrador), said in a 2014 interview. “In a lot of small communities the post office is the only federal presence that exists.”.“Look at the reduction of hours, the closures, the increasing use of community mailboxes,” said Foote, now Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. “I think it is deceptive. I think the hidden agenda is to privatize Canada Post.”.Other measures polled by the Department of Public works included raising bulk stamp prices from 92 cents to $1.25 for interprovincial mail, reducing deliveries to every second business day and eliminating doorstep delivery “for everyone except the elderly and those with mobility or other health challenges.”
