Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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OTTAWA — Canada Post has released its annual report, detailing a $1.57-billion loss before tax for 2025.
The Crown corporation said in a news release the record loss highlights the need to transform and move away from cash injections.
The report said the company’s annual loss widened by $728 million, or 86.7 per cent, compared to a loss of $841 million the year before.
Revenue for the year declined by $315 million, or 4.7 per cent, compared to 2024, as parcel volumes fell “sharply” in large part due to labour uncertainty throughout 2025.
Canada Post workers started voting Monday on a five-year contract agreement that follows labour strife and their union leader urging they reject the deal.
Canada Post and the union have sparred over wages and structural changes to the postal service for more than two years, and workers have taken to the picket line multiple times.
Both sides have agreed not to engage in any strike or lockout activity while the ratification votes take place, though employees are also casting ballots on whether to authorize a strike mandate, in case they reject the contract.
While 60 per cent of the union board endorsed the contract saying it ensures job security, the union’s president has asked members to reject the deal, saying it rolls back rights and compensation.
The Crown corporation has recorded more than $5 billion in losses since 2018, faced with a significant reduction in letter mail and growing competition for package delivery.
Monday’s news release said Canada Post’s financial situation deteriorated significantly in 2025 as labour uncertainty weighed on the business, and decades-old rules and frameworks continued to “impede the company’s modernization and its ability to compete.”
In 2025, it said parcel volumes fell by 79 million pieces, or 32.6 per cent, compared to the prior year.
“The severity of the corporation’s financial situation underscores the urgency to transform and meet the modern needs of the country,” it said.
“Building on the federal government’s decision to lift long-standing policy and regulatory restrictions, Canada Post is proceeding with transformative measures to return the company to financial sustainability and renew the postal service to meet the needs of Canadians and Canadian businesses in today’s economy.”
Ottawa announced a series of reforms to Canada Post late last year in an effort to save the Crown corporation millions of dollars annually.
Canada Post said last week it’s starting preliminary work to convert addresses that receive door-to-door mail to community mailboxes, and to phase out some post offices.
Canada Post said it’s converting about four million addresses to community mailboxes and the work is expected to take about five years, with different regions moving to community mailboxes each year.
The corporation said it’s starting discussions with 13 communities across Canada — including Ottawa and Winnipeg — as it prepares to move about 136,000 addresses from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes in late 2026 and early 2027.
Canada Post said it’s also reviewing its retail network in preparation for closures of urban and suburban post offices in areas it says are currently over-served.
The federal government last year ended a decades-long moratorium on rural post office closures, a move that sparked concern about the future of mail delivery in remote communities that aren’t well served by private couriers.
Canada Post said it’s conducting market reviews to gather data on local post offices.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2026.
— With files from Dylan Robertson
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
