Canada Post hearings underway in Montreal on end of door-to-door delivery
CBC News | Posted: January 20, 2015 3:52 PM | Last Updated: January 21, 2015
Corporation says falling mail volume and increasing digital communication made move necessary
The City of Montreal is holding three days of public hearings about Canada Post’s plan to end door-to-door delivery and replace it with communal mailboxes over the next four years.
A committee made up of elected officials from across the island will be overseeing the meetings and will issue a report on Feb. 17.
- Canada Post court challenge launched to save home mail delivery
- Canada Post cuts: Turnaround plan or beginning of the end?
- Canada Post asking for doctor's note to keep home mail delivery
Alain Duguay, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in Montreal, will present at the hearings Wednesday.
Duguay said he's hopeful the hearings will show the impact of the cuts on seniors and people with reduced mobility, in order "to persuade Canada Post to reconsider this disastrous plan."
Another presenter, Linda Gauthier, the head of RAPLIQ, an advocacy group for disabled people, said she'll continue to fight to get service at home.
She said the plan to require a doctor's note to continue to get home delivery is an invasion of privacy.
Canada Post announced last year it would phase out home delivery and cut thousands of jobs, owing to financial losses stemming from falling mail volume and increasing use of digital communication.
Canadians mailed almost 1.2 billion fewer pieces of mail in 2013 than they did in 2006, the corporation said.
People living in Repentigny, Rosmère, Lorraine, Charlemagne and Bois-de-Filion already had their home delivery scrapped last October.
The meetings will take place tonight, tomorrow and Thursday at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 275 Notre-Dame St. East.
Residents who wish to speak can register 30 minutes before the hearings being, while groups had to preregister by Jan. 12.