Hamilton councillors write to feds about Canada Post... again

Four Hamilton councillors have written to the federal government, again, as part of an ongoing battle between the city and Canada Post over super mailboxes.

Terry Whitehead, Tom Jackson, Scott Duvall and Doug Conley — who represent the Mountain and upper Stoney Creek — have complained to Transport Minister Lisa Raitt over the corporation allegedly cutting through a gas line while installing a mailbox.

It's the latest move in a series the city has taken — including going to court — to try to stop the corporation from installing community mailboxes without a city permit. Canada Post is installing 1,000 on the Mountain as part of a city-wide plan to phase out door-to-door urban mail delivery.

The city has passed a bylaw saying it has to help Canada Post site mailbox locations on municipal property. When Canada Post kept installing anyway, without paying $200 per mailbox, the city went to court to stop it. Canada Post countered with its own motion. Both will be heard on the week of May 25.

In the letter, the four councillors said the corporation hit a gas line while installing a mailbox.

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"On Friday, May 1, a resident of the City of Hamilton had their gas line severed by a subcontractor working for Canada Post, leaving the resident without hot water for the weekend, and as of Tuesday, he still has no gas service," the letter says.

Whitehead has been issuing stop-work orders to contractors at mailbox sites. On Wednesday, he said, he took video of a Ministry of Labour official at a mailbox site.

City council recently wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking him to stop Canada Post's plan in general. But at a council meeting Wednesday, Jackson said the city has moved "from a prohibiting position to a regulating position.

"I think our case, fingers crossed, will be a fairly good one going into court."

The fight has been on the Mountain so far, he told other councillors, but "after this, (your area) will probably be next."

Canada Post says it consulted with residents and the city before installing the mailboxes. 

It plans to phase out urban door-to-door delivery across Hamilton over the next five years. It hasn't said what area it will do next.

Whitehead also spoke to Aurora town councillors this week, who passed a motion supporting Hamilton. They'll also look into establishing a similar bylaw.