{"id":175915,"date":"2025-09-28T18:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/175915\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T18:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:30:09","slug":"canada-post-denies-ottawas-reforms-give-it-leverage-over-striking-union-in-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/175915\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Post denies Ottawa’s reforms give it leverage over striking union in negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada Post is denying the Liberal government’s directive to change the postal service’s operational model gives it leverage over the striking union in negotiations, as the two sides continue their days-long showdown.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t argue that it’s given us any leverage,” said Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post during an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday. “[The union] walked out in response to them.”<\/p>\n

“We’ve been told it’s now time to get back away from the taxpayer subsidies and make the changes,” Hamilton told host Rosemary Barton.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) suddenly called for a nationwide strike, after the federal government instructed Canada Post to end home delivery and close some rural mail outlets.<\/p>\n

Those instructions are part of a modernization plan that Ottawa says will allow Canada Post to stabilize its finances and ensure its survival. The Crown corporation is on track to lose $1.5 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Explaining what’s going on with Canada Post and if it can be saved:\"\"<\/p>\n

Canada Post is effectively bankrupt. Can it be saved? | About That<\/p>\n

Can ending door-to-door mail delivery help solve Canada Post’s financial catastrophe? That’s part of the federal government’s proposed solution to curb daily losses in the millions of dollars, but the union has swiftly responded with a nationwide postal worker strike. Andrew Chang explains how Canada Post’s greatest strength may now be its greatest weakness \u2014 and how a viable path forward could unfold.<\/p>\n

Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Ottawa announced the reforms, Canada Post said it was “reassessing” an offer it had planned to make to CUPW and would present a “revised” version to workers when ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Canada Post was given 45 days to submit a cost-savings plan to the federal government. Hamilton said “we’re now working on that” and the plans will be shared with Public Works Minister Jo\u00ebl Lightbound, who’s responsible for this file.<\/p>\n

“Then I’m assuming we’ll be making those public and explaining what that change is going to look like,” Hamilton added.<\/p>\n

Lightbound estimated on Thursday that the switch from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes will likely take close to a decade, though many people will see changes much sooner.<\/p>\n

Union claims Ottawa taking orders from Canada Post<\/p>\n

In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday, CUPW negotiator Jim Gallant said he thinks Canada Post’s management is “awful” and the federal government’s recommended reforms are actually ideas from the Crown corporation.<\/p>\n

“Canada Post came with these suggestions,” Gallant said. “We’ve been negotiating on and off for the best of two years, and those are the things that Canada Post wanted.”<\/p>\n

\"ACanada Post workers are pictured on strike at the Canada Post processing centre in Richmond, B.C., on Sept. 26. The Crown corporation is denying that the Liberal government\u2019s directive to change the postal service\u2019s operational model gives it leverage over the striking union in negotiations. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Asked whether he was suggesting Ottawa was\u00a0taking orders from Canada Post and not making an independent decision, Gallant said, “I am saying that,”\u00a0and “Canadians should decide what Canada Post is and how it goes through the future.”<\/p>\n

Gallant also pushed back on statements from Canada Post and Lightbound that the mail carrier was effectively insolvent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There’s no such thing,” Gallant said. “Are the RCMP insolvent? Are the Armed Forces insolvent? It’s not the truth. Government can’t be insolvent.”<\/p>\n

Canada Post isn’t taxpayer-funded; under the\u00a0Canada Post Corporation Act<\/a>, the mail carrier is expected to be financially self-sustaining\u00a0while meeting the needs of Canadians. Earlier this year, the government lent it $1 billion due to its recent financial<\/a> constraints.<\/p>\n

“The money has to be where the mouth is, and the government should support Canada Post,” Gallant said.\u00a0“We should end up with a postal service that serves Canadians.”<\/p>\n

Small town mayor reacts to strike<\/p>\n

Nancy Peckford, mayor of North Grenville, Ont., told Barton her community of about 20,000 people has a “heavy reliance” on Canada Post, and that “we support the strike, but it’s going to be tough for our community, there’s no doubt.”<\/p>\n

If North Grenville’s post office is shut down as part of the reforms, Peckford said it would be a “devastating development” because the post office is also a hub where people can connect.<\/p>\n

WATCH |\u00a0The government says it wants to save Canada Post:\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018The goal, ultimately, is to save Canada Post,\u2019 minister says of postal service transformation<\/p>\n

Jo\u00ebl Lightbound, minister of public works, was asked Thursday what makes the government think people will accept major changes to how Canada Post operates, particularly around door-to-door delivery.<\/p>\n

“While we know we’re growing, and in fact Canada Post has expanded its service in the municipality by virtue of our growth, it would be very sad and quite disruptive to see the disappearance of our local post office,” Peckford added.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s incumbent upon Canada Post now, given where they’re at, to really engage strategically [with] municipalities so that we can share our perspectives and they can hear directly from the clients that they serve.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada Post is denying the Liberal government’s directive to change the postal service’s operational model gives it leverage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-175915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}