Billboards Slam Cannon on Postal Deregulation

CUPW unveiled two billboards on September 24^th which are critical of Lawrence Cannon’s position on postal deregulation. Not only that, we invited postal workers, the media and federal election candidates in the Gatineau-Hull area to the unveiling. One billboard is in Cannon’s riding of Pontiac, Quebec and the other is in downtown Gatineau, Quebec.

Members from the Outaouais local and the National Executive Board came out to see the billboards as did the media, Marius Tremblay, the Bloc Québécois candidate for Pontiac and Françoise Boivin, the NDP candidate in the riding of Gatineau.

The two billboards send a strong message to Lawrence Cannon who is the Minister responsible for Canada Post. They say: Mr. Cannon, Hands off my post office. Say no to postal deregulation. (In French : Monsieur Cannon, touchez pas au service postal! Non à la déréglementation).

At the unveiling, the union pointed out that Cannon has already tried – and failed - to partially deregulate Canada Post through Bill C-14 and that the Minister is currently looking at whether the post office’s letter market should be opened to competition as part of the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review.

The union also pointed out that, according to a recent Ipsos Reid poll, close to 70 per cent of the public do not want Canada Post’s letter market opened up to private sector competitors. The union does not want postal deregulation either. We think it’s reasonable to expect a meeting with Cannon to discuss this matter and other issues that are being considered as part of Minister Cannon’s strategic review of Canada Post.

CUPW has sent eleven letters requesting a meeting with the Minister since he was elected, but Cannon has not been willing to meet. The union hopes the billboards will move Cannon to meet with the union if re-elected.

We also hope the billboards will highlight the Conservative’s position on postal deregulation during the federal election and make the Tories reconsider their position.

We want the Tories to reconsider because postal deregulation hasn’t worked for people or postal workers in other countries. In general, full-scale deregulation has led to fewer jobs, less service and higher postal rates for people and small businesses. 

Say no to postal deregulation on election day by voting for candidates who support universal public postal service.

You can get more information from CUPW’s website (www.cupw-sttp.org) or from your local.