By Hina Alam
Kathryn Gallagher Morton is “absolutely thrilled” that Canada Post is at least moving.
Being the owner of Maplelea, a small business that sells Canadian-themed dolls via its website, she said a majority of her business takes place about eight weeks before Christmas.
Gallagher Morton said she is preparing to send out hundreds of thousands of catalogues for the holiday season, and a Canada Post strike would have hurt her business.
“You have your order in by the beginning of December if you’re going to get it in time for Christmas,” she said. “So timing is everything. This catalogue has to go out in middle of October or we lose our Christmas.”
Mail and parcel delivery are set to resume on a limited basis in the coming week as Canada Post workers switch to rotating strikes.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said late Thursday night that rotating strikes were to begin Saturday at 6 a.m. local time, ending the countrywide strike that spanned more than two weeks. Local branches will be informed when it’s their turn to rotate out of service closer to that time, it added.
The union, which represents 55,000 members of the postal service, declared a countrywide strike on Sept. 25, hours after the government announced changes to the postal service, including an end to door-to-door mail delivery for nearly all Canadian households within the next decade.
While postal services will begin to resume next week, the Crown corporation said “uncertainty and instability” will persist amid the rotating strikes and all service guarantees will be suspended as a result.
The union’s Thursday night announcement came a day after meeting with Joël Lightbound, the federal minister responsible for Canada Post. The union said it voiced concerns about the government’s changes to the mail carrier’s business model at the meeting.
A previous strike and lockout lasted more than a month in November and December 2024, ending after then-labour minister Steven MacKinnon declared an impasse in the talks and asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order an end to the work stoppage.
Gallagher Morton said she lost more than $300,000 in sales last year because of the strike. Since then, she said she still uses Canada Post to mail her catalogues because she said they have a wider reach than digital media. But she uses multiple carriers to send out toys.
“We just chose to use them because their prices were reasonable. They delivered to every address in Canada. … But we don’t want to risk our parcels getting caught,” she said
In Edmonton, people like Troy Pavlek said he doesn’t use Canada Post much, but worries how the labour disruption will affect this month’s municipal election.
“There’s no voter information cards going out. We don’t know that an election is happening and that’s going to depress voter turnout,” the 31-year-old said while shopping at a weekend farmers market.
Mike Mantello, 63, said he probably hadn’t used the postal system in at least five years, and maybe even 10. He worries about Canada Post workers and their families keeping their jobs, but notes the service needs to be competitive with private companies.
“My wife’s really digitized right now. We get everything either email or digital. The mail that comes in is just a backup to what we already know,” he said.
But for Jo-Ann Martin, owner of Bullock’s Bistro in Yellowknife, Canada Post is an essential service. Her quaint restaurant that serves locally caught fish is also sought after by customers for its various sauces and dressings, which are sent out using Canada Post, Martin said, and the rotating strike will bring some relief.
She also receives some of her supplies that cannot be found in Yellowknife through Canada Post, and even though there are flights and a few private courier services that operate, she said they are prohibitively expensive.
“We get orders from all over the country … Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia — everywhere,” she said. “To get those packages out of here, the most affordable option, obviously, is through Canada Post.”
When Canada Post was on strike in November and December last year, Martin said she cancelled several orders and had to return money.
“Some people waited. It was just before Christmas, so it was a lot of disappointed customers because it was for Christmas gifts. That was hard, really hard. And then and now this again, within a year, it is brutal. It’s terrible.”
Having lived in rural and remote communities all her life, Martin said she understands the importance of Canada Post because it serves as a lifeline. People in those areas where there are no roads rely on the Crown corporation for a number of things, including food, she said.
But she said Canada has to find a find a more “manageable” model to operate better.
Gallagher Morton echoed Martin.
“As a taxpayer, I just I don’t want to continue to support what has essentially become a dinosaur, and Canada Post needs to come up with a new model of operating. I think the union has to work with them to find that new model.”
–With files from Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton.
