canada Post Faces Sweeping Changes as Lightbound Announces Cost-Cutting Measures
ottawa, ON - Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, joël Lightbound, unveiled a series of significant changes to Canada Post‘s operations Thursday, aiming to return the Crown corporation to financial stability. The moves include expanding the use of community mailboxes and lifting a decades-long moratorium on rural post office closures, sparking immediate reaction from the postal workers’ union.
The announcement arrives amid contentious collective bargaining negotiations between Canada Post and the Syndicate of Postal Workers (STTP), following a rejection of the employer’s final offers by union members 50 days prior. While Lightbound asserts the changes represent a crucial “first step” towards profitability, the STTP expressed surprise at being excluded from pre-announcement discussions. The measures are projected to generate annual savings of $550 million – $400 million from expanded community mailboxes and $150 million from rural network modernization.
Canada Post will be authorized to replace door-to-door delivery with community postal boxes for an additional 4 million addresses. Currently, three-quarters of Canadians already receive their mail through these facilities. The corporation initially requested this expansion through the Kaplan Commission, citing the potential for ample cost reductions.
“The Foundation for Post Canada is profitable one day, this is what is announced today. But, it will not be enough, it is clear. Except that it will go a long way to get there,” Lightbound stated in an interview, emphasizing the essential role Canada Post plays, especially in remote communities.
The government is also ending a moratorium on rural post office closures, which has been in effect since 1994, and initiating a modernization of the rural postal network.The STTP issued a press release Wednesday indicating they had not been informed of the impending announcement.Further details are expected as negotiations with the union continue.
