Letter to Rob Merrifield, Minister of State of Transport - Re: Moratorium on Rural Post Office Closures and the Government’s Response to the Report of the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review (CPCSR)

BY EMAIL AND MAIL

 

Rob Merrifield, Minister of State of Transport           
Place de Ville, Tower C, 29^th Floor
330 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario  
K1A 0N5

Dear Mr. Merrifield:

I am writing to thank you for your response to my letter dated December 7, 2009 and to request clarification on three issues.

I understand from your letter that the government “has carefully considered all of the panel’s recommendations” from the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review. Will the government be taking further action as a result of this consideration? For example, will you be accepting or rejecting the recommendation for an employee share ownership plan (#25)? Selling or giving shares to employees is partial privatization. Accepting this recommendation would violate the government’s promise not to consider privatization.

I also understand from your letter that the government has decided to maintain the current moratorium on post office closures in rural and small one-post-office towns. This is good news. However, we would like to know if the government expects post offices and outlets covered by the moratorium to be public offices and not private outlets.

As you may know, the current moratorium was not designed to simply protect rural postal service. It was designed to protect public postal service in rural and small one-post-office towns.  
When we asked Canada Post if it expected post offices and outlets covered by the moratorium to be public offices and not private outlets, the corporation said : “ In terms of outlets covered by the moratorium, exceptional situations affecting Canada Post personnel (e.g., retirement, death, illness, etc.) or Canada Post infrastructure (e.g., fire, termination of lease, etc.) may affect the ongoing operation of a post office. The solution to address such a situation can only be determined on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the affected community.” (emphasis added)

You have indicated that “No dilution of the existing moratorium is being considered.” Nevertheless, the moratorium is clearly being diluted if Canada Post is allowed to convert post offices covered by moratorium from public to private outlets.

Does the government expect Canada Post to maintain the public nature of post offices that are protected by the moratorium?

Finally, is the government considering taking any measures relating to postal and courier services during Canada-EU negotiations?

The EU, which is poised to fully deregulate all post offices between 2011 and 2013, has identified postal services as one of its priority sectors in the current negotiations, but our government has yet to tell us what position it will be taking. We think the public and postal workers have a right to know what the government intends to do with our public postal service.

I am hoping that you will be able to respond to these important issues in the near future.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Denis Lemelin
National President

 

c.c.           

National Executive Committee
Regional Executive Committees
National Union Representatives
Regional Union Representatives
CUPW Specialists
CUPW Locals
Leslie Schous, President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Richard Des Lauriers, President, Union of Postal Communications Employees Public Service Alliance of Canada
John Baird, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
Andre Morency, ADM, Corporate Services Group, Transport Canada
David Christopherson, MP
Mario Laframboise, MP
Bonnie Crombie, MP
All members of Parliament