Charlottetown calling for reversal of postal changes
Mayor Clifford Lee hoping other Canadian cities will join efforts to keep door-to-door delivery
Charlottetown city council has passed a resolution calling on Ottawa to reverse planned changes to mail delivery in the city.
Canada Post announced late last year that community mailboxes will replace home delivery in Charlottetown and Stratford in the fall of 2015.
Charlottetown Council is sending a letter to the federal minister, Lisa Raitt, outlining concerns about the loss of door-to-door delivery and the potential impact on local jobs and service.
Mayor Clifford Lee said some parts of the city don't have door-to-door mail delivery now and are already using the community mail boxes. He said many people in those areas are not happy with the boxes.
"Really we are taking a service that I think people generally aren't satisfied with, and expanding it across the city," said Lee.
"But if enough municipalities in the country stand up and say to the government of Canada, we don't like these changes, we are opposed to these changes, who knows, somebody in Ottawa might say this is becoming a bigger issue than we ever thought."
Lee says Charlottetown Council is also asking the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the level of service provided by Canada Post prior to the announced changes.
Canada Post has said no regular employees will lose their jobs as a result the change. It says workforce reductions will be through attrition as people retire.