Canada Post’s future needs emergency debate by MPs amid strike, NDP urges
NDP Interim Leader Don Davies has sent a letter to the Speaker of the House requesting an emergency debate for Wednesday night, citing the urgent situation facing the Crown corporation, Canada Post.
“We all know that delivering the mail today in 2025 is different than it was decades ago. We know there are economic challenges facing Canada Post. However, the question is how best to deal with it,” Davies told reporters ahead of question period.
The recent government announcement allows Canada Post to close some post offices deemed unnecessary and relax its delivery standards. In response, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) quickly launched a national strike, arguing that the announced changes would impact postal jobs and shrink the company’s business.
Davies criticized the government’s move, saying it “dropped a bomb in the middle of collective bargaining that has been going on for months.” He added that this was another example of the Liberals interfering in collective bargaining and ignoring workers’ rights, an issue he plans to address during the debate.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also weighed in earlier Wednesday, calling on the Liberals to pause the changes to Canada Post and allow all parties to reach a solution together. However, he did not call for an emergency debate. The Bloc has been vocal about the potential loss of postal operations in rural Quebec through post office closures.
The government has promised that rural, remote, and Indigenous mail service will be preserved amid the changes. It explained that lifting the so-called rural post office moratorium reflects the fact that many rural communities have grown beyond the need for their own dedicated post office since the policy was first introduced in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan Lightbound described the financial situation of Canada Post as “a disaster,” revealing the corporation is losing $10 million a day. He shared this comment while heading into Wednesday’s Liberal caucus meeting.
Lightbound also revealed that he has not met with CUPW to address their concerns since before last week’s announcement. Both he and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu have urged Canada Post and CUPW to reach a negotiated deal quickly to restore mail service affected by the strike and allow the corporation to address its financial challenges.
The company has not issued an update since last Friday, leaving many Canadians concerned about the future of their mail service amid this ongoing dispute.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11459681/canada-post-strike-changes-ndp-emergency-debate/
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