Service in rural Canada Conference Board of Canada predicts crown corporation will lose $1 billion by 2020
Canada Post says it must implement fundamental changes to avoid looming financial problems as mail volumes fall.
A business-oriented think tank predicts losses of $1 billion by 2020.
However, the crown corporation said its obligation to serve rural Canada will remain.
Canada Post was responding last week to a report from the Conference Board of Canada that predicted annual billion dollar losses by 2020 unless changes are made, services reduced and labour costs slashed.
Opposition MPs quickly saw it as a prescription for a decline in Canada Post service, including in rural Canada.
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In the House of Commons April 25, rural British Columbia MP Alex Atamanenko said Canada Post plans private postal outlets in his Southern Interior riding near an existing post office.
He said there have been no consultations.
“This is a major step to justify reductions in service at the main office and the eventual privatization of postal services in our rural communities,” said Atamanenko.
He demanded that Steven Fletcher, minister responsible for the postal service, “commit today to ensuring Canada Post remains a vital public service.”
As he did through the week, Fletcher noted that Canada Post is an “arm’s length crown corporation” with serious financial problems and said the NDP is part of the problem through its support of unions, particularly the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
“We understand that email and other technologies are creating serious long-term financial problems for Canada Post,” he said.
“To be frank, Canada Post’s labour and cost structure is unsustainable for the future.”
When Quebec New Democrat Robert Aubin took up the cause in the Commons, demanding a government commitment to keeping Canada Post as a public service, Fletcher pounced.
“It’s really rich to hear the NDP discuss this as it is part of the problem,” he said April 24.
“In fact, it is the NDP’s big union bosses who helped delay our legislation to restore service to Canadians in 2011. The NDP and its puppet-master, big-boss union dudes have accelerated Canada Post’s decline.”
Canada Post had turned a profit for the government until last year.
The conference board said mail volume is dropping sharply as more people use electronic communication. Losses are going to mount.
It suggested options such as alternate-day delivery in urban areas, more privatization and action on employee compensation costs and pension obligations.
The report said there is strong resistance to closing post offices in rural Canada, where the distance to collect mail can already be substantial.
“And there is currently a moratorium on closing rural post offices,” it noted.
The conference board said consultations have shown that Canadians are changing their view of the postal service.
The post office, which was once considered essential to nation building, is now seen as having the movement of physical goods, rather than information, as its core business.
