Federal government plans to privatize Canada Post, says MP

When confronted with examples of rural post office closings, the Conservative government falls back on the 2009 Postal Service Charter that promises to keep rural post offices open.The charter “reflects the government’s commitment to universal, effective and economically viable postal services for all Canadians, both rural and urban,” Conservative Senate leader Marjory LeBreton said in June when faced with news of a May 31 post office closing in Elbow, Sask.”Part of that initiative was protecting rural mail delivery by imposing a ban on closure of rural post offices.”Saskatchewan Liberal senator Bob Peterson, who raised the Elbow case with her, is skeptical.Peterson, who is sponsoring a private member’s bill that would roll back any rural postal closings since Sept. 1, 2005, and create a Canada Post Ombudsman to listen to complaints, said the government is not being honest about what is happening in rural Canada.He said since the Conservatives took office more than four years ago, 43 rural post offices and 55,000 rural mailboxes have been closed.”The reality is that rural Canadians are being asked to give up services that we would never ask people living in cities to give up,” Peterson said when he opened debate on his bill in June. “Rural Canada is struggling to maintain an acceptable lifestyle with dignity and confidence.”He said the government’s private agenda, including a budget bill provision now before the Senate that will privatize overseas remailing services at a cost of $40 to $80 million to the crown corporation, is to privatize the post office.”The government needs to understand that shutting down a post office means taking away a piece of the community,” Peterson said in the Senate.Last week, as the Senate finance committee studied the government’s budget bill, Prince Edward Island Liberal and former premier Catherine Callbeck also raised the post office issue.The end of the Canada Post monopoly on overseas mailing will undermine corporation revenues, perhaps at the expense of rural service, she said.”Canada Post has an obligation to deliver mail in places where the private sector would never accept delivery,” she said. “Here Canada Post will be losing some revenue and I am concerned what effect the loss of that revenue will have on services, especially in rural Canada.”Katherine Moynihan of Transport Canada’s crown corporation governance division, stuck to the government line.”I can appreciate your concern,” she told Callbeck. “We are confident and Canada Post is confident that there will not be an impact on rural service.”At one point during Senate question period, LeBreton expressed frustration at the rural post office questions.”It does not matter who the government is, Canada Post always seems to be an issue,” she said, noting that in opposition, Conservatives asked the same questions. “Canada Post stories never seem to end.”