OTTAWA – There is a small glimmer of hope for Canadians who are unhappy with their new community mailboxes.
The union representing postal workers says it has been told that the federal government will decide by spring whether to restore door-to-door mail delivery to those who lost it under the previous government.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers met Public Service and Procurement Minister Judy Foote today, urging her to act on the recommendations of a Commons committee that studied the future of mail services across the country.
READ MORE: Canada Post told to develop plan to bring back door-to-door service
Among its many recommendations issued in December, the committee called on the Liberal government to reinstate door-to-door delivery in parts of the country where service was converted to community mailboxes after August 2015.
It also urged the government to maintain a freeze on the installation of the curbside mail boxes and said Canada Post should raise delivery rates.
CUPW national president Mike Palecek says the minister didn’t commit to adopt any of the committee’s recommendations, but said final decisions would be made this spring.
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The Liberals promised during the 2015 election campaign to end conversions of door-to-door service to community boxes, but didn’t pledge to restore services retroactively.
Nearly 900,000 Canadian households had been converted by the time Canada Post froze the program after the Liberals won the election.
CUPW estimates it would cost about $50 million to restore services to those people and prevent the post office from cutting postal carrier jobs.
-With files from Global News
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