Canada Post workers walk off job in protest of sweeping changes

This afternoon, Canada Post workers in Saskatoon and Regina walked off the job in protest of sweeping changes in an effort to make the Crown corporation financially viable, which Public Works and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound ordered earlier today.

Those changes also will include slowing down the frequency of mail delivery and shuttering some post offices. Door-to-door mail delivery will end for almost all Canadian households within the next decade.

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Lightbound said the changes are meant to shore up Canada Post’s finances adding that the corporation “needs to show a path to financial viability.”

The minister said the federal government will accept all of the recommendations in the Industrial Inquiry Commission’s report on Canada Post, which also called for the introduction of more community mailboxes.

“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,” Lightbound said.

“At the same time, Canada Post is now facing an existential crisis,” he added. “Repeated bailouts from the federal government are not the solution.”

Canada Post workers feeling ‘gutted’ following announcement

Brahm Enslin, president for Canada Post Workers, Saskatoon Local 824, said workers are now in limbo.

“Postal workers are very, very upset at hearing this,” he said. “Especially because we know we’ve been pushing for a better position forward, for a better public service with better solutions than doing what they’re (Canada Post executives) doing.”

Enslin said this could easily lead to layoffs.

“As soon as you’re talking about getting rid of door-to-door delivery, you’re going to consolidate a lot of that work into those community mailboxes,” he explained.

He said switching over to community mailboxes can pose security issues and challenges for elderly or low-mobility people.

Enslin also said that rural post offices are often seen as essential community hubs, and closing more can be detrimental to rural areas.

“When you lose public services based on cost savings, you lose the things that the communities can access, and unfortunately, people will have to move out of their homes more quickly when they can’t access their services as easily,” he said.

At this point, Enslin said he feels like Canada Post is deliberately putting the company into this situation. He said workers have been proposing ideas to expand revenue and bring in more money to the company for over a decade.

But he said executives are not listening.

“To us, it looks like there’s been a movement towards tanking the post office,” he said. “I don’t believe that it had to get there. We’ve proposed a lot of ideas, and they’ve not taken any of them.”

As for current negotiations, Enslin said this situation complicates things.

Canada Post workers in Regina walked off the job Thursday afternoon.

They told 980 CJME they hope not to be on strike for long, but are determined to stand up for “good jobs and good services.”

Workers said they feel ignored by Canada Post executives and the federal government.

Canada Post says changes will save $400 million per year

The change to mail delivery is expected to increase the time it takes Canada Post to deliver letter mail from an average of three to four days to an average of three to seven days.

Four million Canadians will also see their service switch from door-to-door delivery to a community mailbox model, and some post offices will be closed for good. Lightbound said that change could generate $400 million per year in savings.

Lightbound said more than three in four households don’t have door-to-door delivery now, but there has been a moratorium in place on expanding the use of community mailboxes. That moratorium is ending, he said.

Ottawa predicts it will take up to nine years to introduce community mailboxes for all four million households, but most of them will switch within three to four years.

Canada Post has 45 days to come back to the federal government with a plan to implement the changes.

The federal government cited the shrinking volume of letter mail and Canada Post’s small share of the parcel market as reasons for the pivot.

It says Canada Post needs to change to achieve financial sustainability and maintain reliable service.

Lightbound said Canada Post loses $10 million every day and has needed regular federal bailouts to keep its operations afloat.

He said that while Ottawa will not stop helping Canada Post through its financial difficulties, the Crown corporation needs to cut costs to keep the lights on.

Canada Post welcomed the changes in a statement, saying they will allow it to chart a strong path forward that is in line with the changing needs of Canadians.

“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,” said president and CEO Doug Ettinger.

“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.”

The commission also recommended changes to Canada Post’s collective agreement to allow the Crown corporation to hire part-time employees for weekends to help with the weekday load.

In a media statement released Wednesday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said they were not informed the announcement was coming and did not know the details.

Pressure is mounting on Canada Post and the union representing 55,000 postal workers to reach a new agreement before the critical holiday season.

After nearly two years of negotiations, the sides are showing few signs of progress. The parties have been far apart on wages and on restructuring the collective agreement to allow for a corps of part-time workers and weekend delivery.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers earlier this month instituted a flyer ban but has stopped short of picketing since the federal government intervened to quash a holiday strike late last year.

“The timing of the announcement coupled with new global offers could reveal a lot about Canada Post’s plans for bargaining, our jobs and the future of the public post office,” Canadian Union of Postal Workers national president Jan Simpson said in a media statement.

“If Canada Post drops its demands to gut the contracts and deal with our issues, we can come to an agreement quickly. If they ignore the overwhelming vote to reject their vision from the employees that do the work, they are proving they have no intention to achieve negotiated collective agreements.”

In a media statement issued Thursday, the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses said reform of Canada Post is long overdue.

“While we welcome today’s news, there’s still no deal between Canada Post and the union,” said president Dan Kelly.

“The union’s most recent job action banning flyers was another blow to small businesses. At this critical time of year, the last thing small businesses can afford is another strike. We urge the government to provide certainty and work proactively to prevent another labour disruption by temporarily making Canada Post an essential service.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker and 980 CJME’s Nicole Garn