Federal officials say more than $2 billion in emergency financing provided to Canada Post carries no firm deadline for repayment, raising concerns among opposition MPs that taxpayers could ultimately be left covering the losses.Blacklock's Reporter says officials from the Department of Public Works disclosed the details during testimony before the Commons government operations committee as MPs pressed for answers about the financial support granted to the struggling Crown corporation.Conservative MP Kelly Block warned the open-ended loans could leave taxpayers responsible if the postal service cannot repay the money.“The government is running a deficit of $80 billion this year,” Block told the committee. “Where exactly are you getting the money to hand over another billion dollars to Canada Post?”Over the past 14 months, cabinet has approved a total of $2.04 billion in credit for Canada Post to maintain mail delivery operations. MPs have repeatedly asked for details about the terms of the financing but have so far been unable to obtain the full agreements.Deputy public works minister Arianne Reza said the loans were not arranged strictly on commercial terms.“It is currently structured as a loan, so there will be different repayment structures being examined,” Reza told MPs.Block pressed officials on whether the loan agreements require repayment within a defined time frame.“Are there any terms in the loan agreement that dictate the money must be repaid within a specific period of time?” she asked. “What happens if they are never in a position to repay it?”.Reza responded that the questions were broad and said the government intends for the money to be repaid under established conditions.Assistant deputy minister Lorenzo Ieraci later acknowledged the financing does not currently include a specific repayment deadline.“This funding is identified as repayable funding for Canada Post,” Ieraci said. “There is at this point in time no specific timeline in terms of when repayability will occur.”He said several factors are being considered by the government and the Crown corporation, including ongoing labour negotiations between Canada Post and its union.“There’s obviously a number of factors that are being considered by Canada Post and by the government, not the least of which is Canada Post and its union are right now working to be able to ratify a collective bargaining agreement,” Ieraci said.Block then asked whether taxpayers would ultimately be responsible if the postal service fails to repay the loans. Officials did not directly respond.Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer said he suspects the loans will never be recovered.“We are just dumping money down the toilet with them,” Patzer told the committee. “What’s going on here?”.During earlier testimony on Dec. 12, Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger said the financial support was necessary to keep the organization operating.“We know our financial situation is unacceptable and cannot continue,” Ettinger said at the time.He told MPs the postal service hopes to stabilize its finances within the next several years.“It gets us to break even by 2030, five years from now,” he said.Canada Post is expected to report losses approaching $1 billion for 2025.
