Canada Post Gets Greenlight For Major Reforms, CUPW Workers Strike In Response To Service Cutbacks
The Canadian government has cleared the way for Canada Post to undertake major reforms as Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement Joël Lightbound says the national institution, which is on track to post a loss of $1.5 billion for 2025, "is now facing an existential crisis."
Public Services and Procurement Canada
Canada Post is a national institution, older than our country itself, that has been serving Canadians for more than 150 years. For generations, postal workers have connected communities in every corner of the country, providing an essential lifeline to hundreds of northern, Indigenous, and rural communities. Canadians continue to rely on it today, and it remains a vital public service.
At the same time, Canada Post is now facing an existential crisis. Since 2018, the corporation has accumulated more than $5 billion in losses. In 2024 alone, it lost over $1 billion, and in 2025, it is already on track to lose close to $1.5 billion.
Earlier this year, the federal government provided a $1-billion injection to keep the corporation operational. In the second quarter of 2025, Canada Post posted its worst quarterly results ever, losing $407 million. Today, the corporation is losing approximately $10 million every day.
Twenty years ago, Canada Post delivered 5.5 billion letters annually. Today, it delivers only 2 billion, even as the number of households has grown. That means fewer letters are being delivered to more addresses, while fixed costs remain high.
At the same time, parcels volumes — which should have been Canada Post’s growth opportunity — have declined. In 2019, Canada Post delivered 62% of parcels in Canada; today, its market share has dropped below 24%, with private competitors taking the lead. Structural challenges, combined with outdated restrictions and stalled negotiations between labour and management, have further limited the corporation’s ability to adapt.
This situation is unsustainable. Canada Post is effectively insolvent, and repeated bailouts are not a long-term solution. Transformation is required to ensure the survival of Canada Post and protect the services Canadians rely on.
Lightbound further announced a series of measures to stabilize the corporation's finances and enable its modernization, including authorizing Canada Post to end home delivery; adjust how it delivers mail so that non-urgent post can move by ground instead of air at a cost savings of $20 million annually; and lift the 1994 moratorium on closing rural post offices.
- Letter Mail Delivery Standards: Canada Post will introduce flexibilities to reflect today’s lower volumes. The average household receives just two letters per week, yet operations remain designed for far higher volumes. By adjusting standards so that non-urgent mail can move by ground instead of air, the corporation will save more than $20 million per year.
- Community Mailbox Conversions: The government is lifting the moratorium on community mailbox conversions. Currently, three-quarters of Canadians already receive mail through community, apartment, or rural mailboxes, while one-quarter still receive door-to-door delivery. Canada Post will be authorized to convert the remaining 4 million addresses to community mailboxes, generating close to $400 million in annual savings.
- Postal Network Modernization: The moratorium on rural post offices, in place since 1994, will also be lifted. The rural moratorium was imposed in 1994 and covers close to 4000 locations. It has not evolved in 30 years, but Canada has changed.This means that areas that used to be rural may now be suburban or even urban, but are still required to operate as rural post offices. Canada Post must return to the government with a plan to modernize and right-size its network.
Unsurprisingly, Canada Post is welcoming the changes, saying they will allow the postal service "to chart a strong, financially sustainable path forward that supports the changing needs of Canadians."
Statement from Canada Post President and CEO Doug Ettinger:
“Today’s announcement will allow us to make the changes needed to restore Canada’s postal service for all Canadians by evolving to better meet their needs. We take this responsibility seriously and will work closely with the government and our employees to move with urgency and implement the necessary changes in a thoughtful manner. Our goal is to ensure that a strong, affordable, Canadian-made, Canadian-run delivery provider supports the needs of today’s economy and delivers to every community across the country.”
Also unsurprisingly, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is not on the same page as Canada Post, calling Lightbound's announcement an attack on the public post office and taking immediate strike action in response.
Today, the Minister responsible for Canada Post, Joël Lightbound, announced massive changes to the Government’s mandate for Canada Post and huge service cutbacks to the public.
This announcement was an outrage. Minister Lightbound gave the Union no indication that he was going to do this when leadership met with him last week. The Minister said he had the “utmost respect” for postal workers. This is no way to show it...
...This slapdash approach without full public consultation is an insult to the public and to postal workers. The Government may act as the sole shareholder, but the public owns the post office. There was no indication as to what this means for the planned mandate review – nor when that will happen given these massive changes.
We cannot accept this attack on good jobs and public services. Let’s now turn our efforts to making sure the Government and Canada Post hear us loud and clear. We have done it before. We will do it again.
Strike Action Update
In response to the Government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all CUPW members at Canada Post are on a nation-wide strike.
Online sellers in Canada have already been struggling with massive changes to cross border US trade due to tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption and will now face domestic shipping disruptions heading into the all important Q4 holiday shopping season.
Stay tuned for updates in this developing story.
