Canada Post goes back on strike, mail and parcels halted

Canada Post is back in the throes of a national strike, and the corporation says mail and parcels are no longer being processed or delivered.

Workers walked off the job Thursday just hours after Ottawa announced door-to-door mail delivery will end for nearly all Canadian households within the next decade, favouring community mailboxes.

Canada Post says Canadians should expect delays during the work stoppage. Delivery of socio-economic cheques and live animals will continue during the strike.

Here arere the major updates from Friday:

12:45 p.m. EDT: Canada Post ‘must adapt’: jobs minister

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu tells CTV News in a statement that “Canada Post must adapt while protecting good jobs” as the workforce evolves.

“CUPW and Canada Post need to find the right balance that secures the future of the corporation and respects the workers who keep it running. Canadians depend on them to get this right,” Hajdu said.

She adds that federal mediators will still be available to support the bargaining process.

Lynn Chaya, CTVNews.ca journalist.

11:32 a.m. EDT: Need a passport?

The federal government is encouraging people applying for passports to use couriers other than Canada Post if they are applying for their travel document by mail.

• Here’s what the move means for items you may have been expecting

They say applicants can also visit a Service Canada Centre or passport office to begin the process.

The Canadian Press

11 a.m. EDT: ‘They’re trying to shoot their own foot’

Union negotiator Jim Gallant says the federal government’s plan could send Canada Post’s revenue south of the border.

He told CTV News Channel on Thursday that Ottawa’s plan is “going to shove people to other carriers,” and “maybe the government wants to give all this work to FedEx and UPS so the profits can go to the States.”

Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist.

10:15 a.m. EDT: Dozens of readers react

CTVNews.ca heard from dozens of readers reacting to the Canada Post announcement. Some welcomed the changes, saying they were long overdue, don’t go far enough and that the Crown corporation was no longer relevant. Meanwhile, other readers lamented the changes, calling them “another attack on services to our vulnerable seniors” or those with mobility issues.

Mary Nersessian, CTVNews.ca digital news director.

9 a.m. EDT: Impact will be ‘massive,’ CFIB says

“As expected, Canada Post workers are back on an immediate, nation-wide strike. The impact on small business will be massive,” reads a press release from the Canadian Association of Independent Business responding to the strike.

“Doing this in the lead-up to the critical holiday retail shipping season is especially troubling.”

The CFIB reiterated its support for the government’s overhaul of Canada Post operations, calling the strikes a “direct result” of inaction on the federal level and blaming former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

The group also said last year’s Canada Post strike cost small firms over $1 billion.

Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist.

8:15 a.m. EDT: Jobs minister demands negotiation

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu wrote that it’s up to the union and the Crown corporation to find the balance between the future of postal service and respect for employees.

“Federal mediators remain available to support the bargaining process, and I encourage both parties to continue working toward a fair resolution,” she wrote in a statement her office provided in response to the union’s notice.

The Canadian Press

8 a.m. EDT: Canada Post cuts were ‘inevitable’

Cuts to Canada Post services were “inevitable,” says one business expert amid news that the carrier will end door-to-door delivery, nationwide.

“The post office has been in long-term decline since 2006, when letters peaked in Canada,” Carleton University Business Prof. Ian Lee told CTV Your Morning in an interview Friday. “Ever since, it’s been going downhill like a ski slope.”

Lee notes that the declining volume of letter mail has come in spite of a growing population, but he also says the reason why isn’t obscure.

“It’s called a smartphone,” Lee said. “Young people, and most people, don’t write letters. You don’t write your mother or father a letter; you send them a text, you send them an email.”

But that falling demand hasn’t been met with downsized costs, he notes, nor has there been significant growth in parcel deliveries, even with the rise of online shopping.

“They’re hemorrhaging cash.”

Charlie Buckley, CTVNews.ca journalist. Read the full story here.

Thursday: CUPW says announcement ‘an outrage’

In a statement posted to its website entitled “Public Post Office Under Attack,” the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) called the government’s announcement an “outrage.”

The union said the changes, which would see some postal offices close, move millions of addresses to community mailboxes, and extending expected delivery time to up to seven days, could result in job losses.

Luca Caruso-Moro, CTVNews.ca journalist.