NDP would legislate return of door-to-door mail delivery if necessary

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair says he would force Canada Post to restore door-to-door delivery of mail by changing the law.

Thestar.com
July 24, 2015
By Joanna Smith

The New Democrats would force Canada Post to bring back door-to-door delivery of the mail through legislation if there was no other way to reverse the recent service cuts, says Thomas Mulcair.

“Canadian taxpayers are the only shareholders of Canada Post. We would act in accordance with the law and we would make sure that the decision we have taken and what we have promised to taxpayers we would do, would be carried through,” Mulcair said in an interview with the Star during his eight-day campaign-style swing through Ontario.

Mulcair confirmed he was talking about forcing the reversal by changing the law, if necessary and possible, should the NDP form government after the Oct. 19 federal election.

“We are elected on a platform and we are allowed to bring in legislative plans that would allow us to put that into effect if that were necessary, but before going that route, we would make sure there were no other possibilities in ensuring that the clear will of the government would be carried out,” Mulcair said.

“If it required legislative change, it would be legislative change, but we would look at all aspects before necessarily going down that route,” said Mulcair.

Canada Post announced in December 2013 that it was planning to phase out home delivery service nationwide and replace it with community mailboxes, a move explained as a way to save money - about $500 million annually, once the conversion is complete - as mail volume decreases in an increasingly digital age.

The Crown Corporation said the decision would affect the 32 per cent of households in the country that still had mail delivered right to the doors and that it expects roughly 1 million households to be converted by the end of this year.

Citing the fact that Canada Post is still making a profit - it posted $194 million in pre-tax profits for 2014 - the NDP promised in May they would restore the service if they won the election, but never specified how much it would cost or how it would go about it.