Canada Post is “effectively insolvent,” warns federal mediator William Kaplan, who urges a sweeping overhaul of the Crown corporation’s mandate if it is to survive imminent labour and financial crises.
Kaplan’s report recommends allowing Canada Post to shutter additional rural post offices, expand community mailboxes and introduce weekend parcel delivery staffed by part-time workers. He further proposes phasing out door-to-door letter delivery—retaining daily service only for business customers—to arrest mounting losses in its legacy operations.
With negotiations stalled and a strike or lockout deadline of 12:01 a.m. on May 22 looming, Kaplan expresses deep skepticism that conventional bargaining or binding arbitration can bridge the gulf between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
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“Given what has occurred to date, it seems unlikely that free collective bargaining will be successful in bridging the divide,” he wrote.
READ: Postal Strike Drags On as Union, Canada Post Remain Deadlocked
All three of Canada Post’s business lines are under pressure: letter volumes are in “rapid decline because of electronic substitution,” flyers are declining amid “the shift toward digital marketing,” and parcels—despite growing overall volumes—are losing ground to private competitors. The once-reliable subsidy model, where urban letter profits offset high rural delivery costs, “no longer works,” Kaplan argues.
Minister Patty Hajdu calls the report’s proposals “thoughtful suggestions on how to continue good-faith negotiations,” while Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger praises its “frank and straightforward assessment of the challenges we face.”
For 2019 to 2023, Canada Post’s parcel market share plunged from 62% to 29%.
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