Postal workers are calling on MPs to stop cabinet’s plan to slash mail delivery, warning the proposed cuts will cripple Canada Post and devastate communities across the country.Testifying before the Commons government operations committee, Jan Simpson, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said the changes announced by cabinet on Sept. 25 mark “historic and far-reaching” cuts to public service. “Let Canadians decide what they want and need from their public post office,” Simpson told MPs. “Let’s reverse the cuts.”Blacklock's Reporter said the government’s plan would end doorstep delivery in favour of community mailboxes, reduce daily delivery to allow for “flexible” scheduling, and lift a moratorium on rural post office closures that has been in place since 1994. .Simpson said the “sweeping changes” would eliminate thousands of good unionized jobs and force Canadians — especially seniors and rural residents — to rely on private couriers.“No other country in the world has completely eliminated to-the-door delivery,” she said. “Cutting delivery to the door will only drive customers away. This is not our idea of a proud heritage moment.”Simpson argued that instead of shrinking operations, Canada Post should focus on expanding services like postal banking, passport processing, and student loan handling. “Canada Post has the ability, being the only federal building in some communities, to offer services beyond mail delivery,” she said..Dwayne Jones, president of the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association, warned that lifting the rural moratorium will devastate smaller towns. “When there was no moratorium, we saw 1,500 communities lose their post office,” Jones told MPs. “Canada Post is moving forward with a transformation process that could reshape and in some cases eliminate the services that sustain rural and northern Canadians. Yet no costing, no economic or service impact analysis and no meaningful consultations have been made public.”Conservative MP Harb Gill questioned whether the post office was abandoning its legal duty to serve all Canadians. “There may be early signs of erosion,” Jones replied.Liberal MP Iqra Khalid acknowledged the financial strain but said balancing costs with service obligations was complex. Canada Post has not turned a profit since 2017, when it posted a $55 million pre-tax gain. Last year, it reported a pre-tax loss of $841 million.
