Canada Post ‘effectively insolvent’ as strike looms. Report suggests fixes

A report looking into the dispute between Canada Post and the union representing its workers recommended eliminating daily door-to-door mail delivery.

Daily door-to-door letter mail delivery for individual addresses should be phased out, according to recommendations made in a report by an industrial inquiry commission that says Canada Post is “effectively insolvent” as it continues to face financial issues.

Commissioner William Kaplan laid out seven recommendations as part of his report into the ongoing dispute, which could lead to a strike or lockout as of May 22.

“My recommendations are based on my conclusion that there is a way to preserve Canada Post as a vital national institution,” Kaplan wrote.

Kaplan said that the Crown corporations charter should be amended, saying it “cannot continue to require impossible-to-meet delivery standards,” but added while individual address delivery should be phased out, businesses should still receive deliveries daily.

He also said community mailboxes should be established “wherever practicable.”

This suggestion, however, comes despite Kaplan saying in his report that the promise to deliver to every Canadian address is “worth preserving.”

In his report, Kaplan laid out the issues facing Canada Post, stating that it was “facing an existential crisis: It is effectively insolvent, or bankrupt.”

He went on to say that if the corporation is to continue operating without ongoing subsidies from the government, “the situation calls for hard-headed, practical thinking.”