Saint John denies Hamilton's funding request in Canada Post fight
CBC News | Posted: August 18, 2015 4:35 PM | Last Updated: August 18, 2015
City of Hamilton was seeking financial help in its $75K court appeal over community mailboxes
Saint John city council has turned down the City of Hamilton's request for a financial contribution to its court appeal against Canada Post over community mailboxes.
Instead, council voted to send a letter in support of the Ontario city's court battle.
Hamilton will spend an estimated $75,000 to appeal the decision from Ontario Superior Court Justice Alan Whitten, who struck down a bylaw that attempted to regulate where Canada Post puts new community mailboxes.
Saint John Coun. John MacKenzie, a former Canada Post employee, was open to sending a small contribution to the Hamilton's legal fight.
"I'm not talking a lot of money, maybe it's $1,000, but if every community across the country put in a little bit, they might win this appeal and we might have the right to say to corporations, gas line companies, and things, that these are our roads, our tax dollars paid for it, and we will tell you where you put the equipment," MacKenzie said at Monday night's council meeting.
If you want to donate something, donate to something that benefits the people here, don't donate to the City of Hamilton. - Mel Norton, Saint John mayor
"The way I'm looking at it, it's for a court case that's going to benefit all cities. It might be Hamilton today, it might be Saint John tomorrow, and when this is done, if they win, we can adopt that policy … in determining who puts what, where, on city streets."
Saint John Mayor Mel Norton was opposed to giving any money to the City of Hamilton, however.
"I don't have any interest in fighting any other city's battles. We've got our own fights to fight, and if someone from this council wants to jump in and start repping other communities, by all means, fill your boots, that's not the role I will support," Norton said.
"My role is for this city and the people of this city, that's where it stops and that's where it ends … If you want to donate something, donate to something that benefits the people here, don't donate to the City of Hamilton."
The battle between Hamilton and Canada Post dates back to last year, when the federal agency started a process to phase out urban door-to-door mail delivery across Canada. The corporation started the local process with 36,000 houses in Hamilton.
Earlier this year, Hamilton passed an amended bylaw saying the corporation had to consult with the City on where it would put the mailboxes, as well as pay a fee of $200 per mailbox.
The corporation maintains that its federal mandate to deliver the mail trumps municipal laws.
In a decision released in June, Whitten declared the City of Hamilton's bylaw regulating the placement of community mailboxes "inapplicable and inoperative."
Saint John Coun. Bill Farren says it seems Hamilton is facing a losing battle.
"I hate to concede to Big Brother, but those buggers are going to do what they're going to do anyway, and for us to spend money on it, I really don't see the benefit," he said.
Bathurst will lose home mail delivery in the fall
Community mailboxes is an issue that will impact cities across the country, said Howard Rabb, special assistant to Hamilton Coun. Terry Whitehead.
"We've seen these boxes placed on four-lane arterial roads that make it very unsafe for postal workers to deliver the mail, not to mention the residents to pick up the mail, we've seen them placed directly in the drip lines of trees, that are ultimately going to kill many trees in our urban forests," Rabb said Monday on CBC's Information Morning Saint John.
Bathurst will be the first city in New Brunswick to lose door-to-door mail delivery service. Mail will be delivered to community mailboxes by the fall of 2015.
Beyond that, the agency couldn't say when other New Brunswick cities will follow suit, but it will happen sometime before 2019.
John Hamilton, spokesman for Canada Post, said the process will involve consultation with communities, contrary to Rabb's allegations.
"I think people believe because we're a Crown corporation and they've heard about the Canada Post Act, we're going to put these mailboxes wherever we want," Hamilton told CBC News on Tuesday.
"We make a lot of changes, we talk to people, and anyone we haven't talked to can call us up on our customer service line and we can talk to them and look at options they've put forward," he said.
"At the end of the day we have to make changes. The amount of mail is disappearing every year," Hamilton said.