Parliamentary Committee Releases Recommendations Regarding Future of Canada Post

The parliamentary committee looking at the future of Canada Post has given its recommendations to the government in a report made public on December 13, 2016.

There are 45 proposals in total, but not one that recommends postal banking.

The recommendations include:

• Continuing the moratorium on community mailbox conversion and developing a plan to reinstate door-to-door delivery for communities converted after August 3, 2015 (i.e. as of the August 4^th federal election).
• Preserving post offices and the moratorium on rural post office closures.
• Looking at the possibility of delivering broadband Internet and improved cellular service to rural Canadians using Canada Post.
• Establishing a council comprised of representatives of the federal government, Canada Post and Canada Post unions to look at expansion and implementation of new service offerings.
• Permitting Canada Post to raise postal rates based on the rate of inflation while maintaining a single price for lettermail delivery across Canada.
• Reviewing the impact on efficiency of strategies such as local processing versus centralized processing, prior to implementation.
• Ensuring Canada Post is transparent about the service-level impact of processing plan rationalizations on different communities.
• Taking steps to “modernize” Canada Post’s defined benefit pension plan so that it can operate on a going-concern basis and no longer be subject to solvency funding requirements,  examining the feasibility of various options (adopting a shared risk model, pursuing joint management, incorporating Canada Post’s defined benefit plan into the Public Service Pension Plan).
• Investigating options for greater oversight of Canada Post through the establishment of a regulator.
• Appointing a labour representative to the Canada Post Board of Directors
• Reviewing the Canadian Postal Service Charter. This could open the door to service improvements or cuts.

CUPW is pleased that the Committee did not recommend:

• Reducing daily delivery
• Converting home mail delivery to so-called community mailbox delivery
• Weakening the moratorium on post office closures in rural and small towns

However, these cuts could be considered during a review of the Charter.

The union is extremely disappointed that the Committee did not make any recommendations in favour of postal banking, but we are not giving up.

You can see the Committee’s full report entitled The Way Forward for Canada Post, as well as the Conservative Party's and New Democratic Party’s dissenting reports at http://www.parl.gc.ca/Committees/en/OGGO.

GOVERNMENT DECISION TO COME

Judy Foote, Minister Responsible for Canada Post, has indicated that the government hopes to respond to the committee’s recommendations sometime in April.

BEEN HERE BEFORE

The union has been through many reviews over the years. Most have been difficult and some have resulted in some pretty bad recommendations. For example, the report of 1996 Canada Post Mandate Review included a proposal that Canada Post exit all competitive services, but we beat it back!

We also know from experience that some review recommendations are not fully considered. The Conservative government chose to ignore most of the proposals in the 2008 Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review. We do not yet know what the government will do. But we do know what we will do. We will fight for a better, greener, public postal system for everyone.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Stay tuned.

Pledge to sign a petition on postal banking.

Better still, get family and friends to sign the petition.

CUPW will be meeting with Liberal MPs to discuss the Committee’s report and raise concerns, especially about the Committee’s failure to propose postal banking.

Please do whatever you are able to assist us with this extremely important work.

In solidarity,