The decade-long Liberal moratorium on rural post office closings is effectively over, says a Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MP.
But instead of announcing a rural post office closing, Canada Post is now announcing “amalgamations” in rural Canada, Regina-Qu’Appelle MP Lorne Nystrom said Sept. 19 in the House of Commons.
“There are now over 20 rural post offices in the province of Saskatchewan that are slated to be amalgamated, including Hubbard in my own riding,” he said during daily Question Period in the Commons. “Since amalgamation really means closure, can the minister give the House a commitment that his government and his party will keep their word – no more closures, no amalgamations?”
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Instead, the minister responsible for crown corporations including Canada Post gave the same kind of answer the Liberals once received from the Conservatives in government as they justified post office closings in favour of local retail postal outlets and community mailboxes.
Steve Mahoney said it is all in the interests of improving rural postal service.
“It would be interesting if the government were to suggest that Canada Post should not look for ways to improve mail delivery in rural Canada,” said Mahoney. “I do not think the people in rural Canada would frankly expect us to do that.”
Nystrom said later that residents of communities that see their service amalgamated with another post office end up driving farther for service.
“Amalgamation is closure, pure and simple,” he said. “The Liberals are abandoning their promise.”
He said post offices are amalgamated only after their postmaster-mistress retires. Often, a replacement is appointed on contract and that can be ended at any time.
“It opens the door to layoffs, to closures,” said Nystrom. “This is a government reneging on a promise it made to rural Canada.”
Given a chance to refute the claim in the House of Commons, Mahoney did not.
“It clearly is about looking at the service delivery that is serving Canadians in rural Canada, recognizing the importance of mail delivery and all services in rural Canada and living up to that commitment that the government has made,” he said.
