Skip to content

Decision on door-to-door mail delivery expected in the spring

Government to announce decisions coming out of Canada Post review by next spring
89258campbellriverMailboxesWEB
The federal government is conducting a review of Canada Post that includes the move to community mailboxes

A decision on whether door-to-door mail delivery will be restored is expected to be made next spring.

The union representing Canada Post said the federal government will, over the summer, determine options for the future of the postal service as part of a federal review of Canada Post.

“It says that everything but postal privatization is on the table,” said Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), in a letter to Campbell River city council. “This means daily mail delivery, restoring home delivery, postage rates, the moratorium on post office closures and more.”

The Liberal government has appointed a four-person independent task force that will study a range of issues, collect input from Canadians and local governments.

Palecek said a parliamentary committee is expected to consult with Canadians on the options put forward by the task force and make recommendations to the government by the end of the year.

Public Services Minister Judy Foote said at a news conference last month that the government’s review will look at daily mail delivery, postage rates and restoring door-to-door mail delivery in communities – including Campbell River – that have made the transition to community mailboxes.

The majority of Campbell River households were converted to community mailboxes in the fall of 2015 as part of a Canada-wide initiative by Canada Post to save an estimated $500 million each year.

Community mailbox installations were put on hold, though, just weeks after the October federal election and those Campbell River addresses that had not yet made the transition to community mailboxes retained home mail delivery. The postal workers union promised last December that it would lobby the federal government to have door-to-door delivery restored in communities that had already made the switch.