12.11.2013 10:03 AM

Breaking: the Harper government has just lost the next election

I’m not kidding, either.

If this extraordinary story isn’t an Onion-like bit of satire – and I checked, it doesn’t seem to be – the Harper guys are done like dinner.  Dead.

Justin, here are your talking points:

“No wonder they were eager to shut down the House early. If elected, I will stop this.  Vote for me, and I will force Canada Post to keep delivering your mail.”

 

103 Comments

  1. Matt says:

    Sorry, but I don’t see this as huge a deal as you do.

    Of all the people I hang around with on a regular basis, about 30, only three of us live in area’s that still have mail delivered directly to the house.

    Every new sub-division built for the last decade or 2 has community mail boxes.

    • Sean says:

      Exactly. I’m kind of amazed home delivery has lasted this long!

    • MississaugaPeter says:

      Mulroney phased out home delivery to anything built after 1987. I get home mail delivery, but the next block over does not.

      Millions of old folks do not get home mail delivery today. It hasn’t been fair for 25 years. People will be pissed, and then it will be the status quo.

      There have been many other changes over my life time that have cost/inconvenienced folks even more than this and the party was still re-elected.

      Anyways, maybe it will get some people to get a little more physical fitness.

  2. Justin says:

    Whilst the digital age has reduced some mail, there is still a lot send via canada post. I still get documents sent special through canada post. I can’t see some of Canada’s older voters liking this.

    • Cynical says:

      This older voter doesn’t give a rat’s ass about home delivery. Not that he’s about to vote for Harper.
      I think this has been a long time coming. Contrary to Warren’s view, I don’t think, by itself, it will make much political difference. It all depends on how well the opposition parties can use the issue to degrade the PM’s popularity. I’m all for that.

      • You shouldn’t always assume that your opinions are mirrored by those around you. There will be many people, like myself, who live in new homes and are used to freezing our butts off to go get the mail on the street. But there will also be significant numbers of people who are entitled to their entitlements, which include mail delivered to their doors. And those people will be disproportionately elderly, living in older homes. Who incidentally have been one of the keys to Harpers success. Let a measly 5% of those affected change their vote, and two dozen seats move into the Liberal, or NDP column on election day. But I think you are correct that there will not be a sudden groundswell of unrest over this. Just a neatly targetted strategic loss for the Conservatives. I can think of more than a dozen polls here in Etobicoke Lakeshore where I will be reminding voters about Income Trust taxation, delays to pension entitlements, and a long dangerous walk to their mail, their lifeline to the world outside their homes. I expect I will convert 90% of elderly voters by reminding them WHY Tory times are tough times.

  3. Matt says:

    “No wonder they were eager to shut down the House early. If elected, I will stop this.  Vote for me, and I will force Canada Post to keep delivering your mail.”

    1) You want him to tell Canadians he’s going to force tax dollars into a money losing operation by the tens if not hundreds of millions every year?

    2) Canada Post will still be delivering your mail, just not to your door. to a community mailbox on your street.

    3) How much actual mail do you still get? I get ad mail pretty much every day. ACTUAL mail, like a letter? Once a week if that. All my bills are emailed to me and I either pay them online or print them myself and pay them at the bank.

    • Mark says:

      I completely agree. I think Justin needs to demonstrate that it won’t necessarily be business as usual with Canada Post. What really differentiates Libs from the NDP if we continue to pour public money into any enterprise that doesn’t continue to evolve with the times?

    • david ray says:

      Understand your point Matt but it’s based on the assumption that electricity is guaranteed. When it fails as in Toronto rains or Katrina hurricane I prefer boots on the ground when it comes to rescuing people or delivering mail and posties are a lot more friendly than they once were.

    • !o! says:

      A kitchen, in Ontario, mid morning, January.
      [enter Frank, a 60- something partially retired husband]

      Frank (flipping through newspaper while sipping coffee): Elsie, where’s the doggamn mail, weren’t we supposed to get that invitation by now?

      Elsie (from offstage): Frank, you know we have to go down to the mailbox now to pick up our mail, just because I grabbed it on the way back from Margies last week doesn’t mean I’m the new mailman.

      Frank (grumbling): grmmrm 20 below… you’d think the doggamn bigshots grmrmlm doggamn ottawa grmmrm doggamn tax dollars.

    • po'd says:

      Sounds similar to arguments of yesteryear in support of selling off the CNR. Fast forward 20 years and envision rickety courier trucks speeding along the highways and byways with back doors wide open and two temporary foreign workers furiously shoveling the mail out as fast as can be.

      With prerecorded message blaring through a loud speaker, ‘It’s mail day, get your mail, get your mail here! ‘ I saw something like that in a political cartoon, UK paper if memory serves.

      Then one day a wheel falls off, the truck goes off the road and hits a propane storage tank, which causes an explosion that sets off other explosions and the first thing you know, a whole town is on fire. And government ministers responsible for it all are quickly moved to other portfolios and replaced by the likes of Lisa (toronto port authority) Raitt. Whoo hoo!

      Oh and Matt, a lot goes on in other people’s lives involving mail service beyond your personal bills and once a week letter.

      That said, it’s quite clear Harper has had Canada Post in his sights for some time and the continued dilution of a relatively small market by Courier companies who are often expensive and consumer unfriendly has been part of his strategy. Any harm Harper can do to Canada Post and the quality of service it can provide, is a win for a Corporate toady such as he.

  4. Eric says:

    I have to agree with your comments. This plan reminds me of the plan to de-index pensions in the first Mulroney term. It could just be a trial balloon.

    However, I do think that Operations at Canada Post should change. From the mail that comes through my slot, the Post isn’t much more of a subsidized way for businesses to advertise to me. I rarely even get bills in the mail anymore, just flyers, and the ‘actual’ mail is even less frequent.

    I think that I’d prefer to keep door to door delivery and only receive it three or four times a week.

  5. patrick says:

    The world changes and information moves in different ways. But the Cons just have no imagination. They are fanatical absolutists. So gutting the post office means that private enterprise can move in to deliver the mail. I suppose reducing to delivery of the mail to 3 times a week is too far out and way out of the box.

  6. Mark Morabito says:

    Naah…..nobody cares about snail mail anymore. This isn’t the 70’s or 80’s. There will be no uprising. We have had community mailboxes in all developments built since the 80’s. They can pull this off now and get away with it.

  7. Marc says:

    This is great news. Canada Post can’t disappear fast enough. I recently received a municipal tax bill for someone in Brantford, 70km away. Not even a similar street name or postal code. I was getting used to receiving the neighbours’ mail, and finding mail scattered along the side of the road, but missing an address by 70km?

  8. G. Mcrae says:

    Meh. I grew up without door-to-door mail and it was just fine. A lot Canadians don’t get delivered directly to their door, and even if available, a lot has been replaced my email and e-statements. What’s the alternative, $2.00 stamps? Canada Post has been bleeding money for years, something has to give.

    The timing seems odd though, right during Christmas season.

  9. Terry says:

    Love the comments here: “No, this doesn’t affect me, therefore no one else will care.” Uh, what about the disabled? What about the elderly (who tend to use regular mail more than anyone else)? Ask Brian Mulroney about messing with old folks’ stuff. I also love the quote from the G&M story, in which some dipshit tries to pretend that this is what Canadians want. No one that likes this idea will like it enough to vote for them because of it but people that hate the idea will certainly hate it enough to vote against them. Bet they pull it back before the end of the year.

    • Bobulous says:

      Gosh darn it, the milkman doesn’t deliver milk right to my door anymore, what am I to do?? What about the disabled and the elderly who now suffer the grave injustice of having to get their milk from the store! Won’t somebody think of them? Won’t somebody think of the children?!

  10. Adam says:

    In response to some of the clever comments here:

    A) I still do send a certain amount by Canada Post, even if not very much and not as much as I used to. I expect that is true of most people.
    B) As an e-mail using internet-addict, I am not in any case the group most likely to be annoyed by it.
    C) 2/3s of Canadians not using Canada Post (in whose ranks I am probably included – who knows how these statistics are gathered) still leaves 1/3 of Canadians who do use it, and also depend on it. These 1/3 Canadians are probably on average older and more likely to have voted for Harper.
    D) Yes, sometimes Canada Post can make a mistake. So can FedEx, as I know to my cost.

    I expect that this is a trial balloon which won’t go through. But otherwise it should be fun to say good-bye to Harper over it.

  11. Paul says:

    not a big deal ..will lose some older voters but this Canada post has been a broken entity forever , has huge unfunded pension liabilities, terrible customer service, uses mail to subsidize other economic entities and is basically past it best before date – I havewnt received mail in 10 years to my door , I drop in once a week and get my mail from a community box…

    They should have taken on the CBC first …make it as public broadcaster and get out of all the stuff the private sector does now that hockey is gone.

    Maybe the dying newspaper industry can charge for mail delivery to subscribers – they go anyway

    • david ray says:

      fuck with my CBC radio and i will seek you out and make you watch Bill O’reilly reruns non-stop for the next ten years 🙁

  12. Jon Powers says:

    This will come as a horrifying shock to the millions of Canadians like myself living in newer suburbs who haven’t had door-to-door mail in decades.

  13. Swervin' Merv says:

    For some of us, within the 5 million homes which still get home delivery, this was part of the reason for choosing an older (70’s) neighbourhood. I’d rather have home delivery three times a week than not at all, as others have suggested.

    Shutting down home delivery could be a slippery revenue slope. My guess is that a lot of the advertising flyers sent to community mail boxes never make it home.

    This would indeed be another reason (among 101 others) to not vote Conservative.

  14. Jamie says:

    I think I may be of the wrong generation to answer your call to the ramparts. I could care less.

    I’ve lived in a home with a community mailbox. I currently receive home delivery where I live now. Will not be overly fussed if I have to pick up mail at the bottom of the street. Exercise will do me good.

    Canada Post operations are now losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year so I’m not sure “Vote for me and I will continue to do something demonstrably stupid” is quite the advice Mr. Trudeau is looking for.

  15. doconnor says:

    It’s not how many people care. It if people who care are the voters the Conservatives need to win. The people who care are in rural areas, towns and suburbs who are older and vote. Those that exactly the people who the Conservatives need to win. Most of the people who don’t care, young urbanites, weren’t going to vote Conservative anyway.

    • RDS says:

      Precisely. It seems much more likely that suburban voters will be saying, “Finally! Stick it to those rich downtown elitists!”

      That said… I’d dearly love to be proven wrong.

  16. WestGuy says:

    I can’t see this being the election killer you do. Any federal election is still more than a year away and by then the impacts of service reductions to a service that fewer and fewer people are using will be long forgotten. All the Conservatives have to do is ask the question “okay, if you want to maintain service levels, who should pay for it?”
    I still prefer Canada Post for parcel delivery and have no problem paying for what the service costs. I would love to see Canada Post change with the times and I think it’s capable of doing that. But I don’t have home delivery where I live and I have an issue subsidizing someone else’s service.

  17. TimL says:

    How anyone “force” them to deliver mail door to door? With $3 dollar stamps?
    Canada Post should have been privatized, like Royal Mail was. Could have been a windfall for the government.

  18. frmr disgruntled Con now happy Lib says:

    I pick up my mail from the main post office in the town I live in…….as opposed to picking it up from the CMB near me(which tends to get broken into fairly regularly)…..the same as my parents did in the same town fifty years ago…..the only thing is now, Canada Post charges me what I think is an exorbitant amount for the privilege of doing so, and has raised the price on average 10% a year since I got the PO box 5 years ago.
    I think urban home delivery should continue……but it wont affect me if it doesn’t……..too bad things have to change, because I know a lot of posties(letter carriers) who were able to pay mortgages and raise families on their salaries…..not high living…..but a living….this current govt wont be happy until ordinary Canadians like me are all working at McJobs, and chained to our workbench to boot.

  19. Lynn says:

    From one of my rock icons, not a punker, but oh do I miss Uncle Frank.

    “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer.”
    ― Frank Zappa

    we know where we are headed, IMHO
    no post office– wtf??? really in a country this size??
    airline goes bankrupt regularly
    CBC is next — wait and see?

    beer we will always have, and need to drown our sorrows as we get pounded yet again by the reform brain trust at work

    I despise this bunch more every day!

    • Matt says:

      Show me where it says there will be NO POST OFFICE.

      • po'd says:

        Even if there is one, in urban areas, particularly large urban areas, accessing it isn’t like out the country mate. Sometimes it costs a fair bit of coin to get there and some more still to park close enough especially if you happen to be old, disabled or both.

      • Lynn says:

        increments, give it time.

        • Bobulous says:

          Yes, Lynn is right… it’s clearly more evidence of a hidden agenda!! Just you wait, those nasty ‘Reformatories’ will get rid of Santa Claus next… it’s a slippery slope!!!

  20. Mark says:

    I haven’t had delivery to my door for almost 20 years and when the last strike occurred switched everything I could to email (banking, utility bills, etc.). From my perspective, this is a good move – it is 2013 after all.

  21. Mom says:

    They are going to lose older voters, especially in rural areas. Why not switch to once or twice per week?

    • Paul says:

      most older voters I know are more pissed about hydro (I know provincial responsibility)….they may enjoy gonig for a drive to pick up the mial in their car as they wont be able to runs appliances , lights furnace in their home….

  22. CaligulaJones says:

    “The people who care are in rural areas…”

    Well, I’m from Muskoka. We’ve been going to the post office to get our mail for decades, so I don’t see what the point is.

    As for the old and disabled, my parents are. See above. They still get their mail. It doesn’t take a miracle or anything.

    BTW, Canada Post just “floated” the problem of an unfunded $1 billion shortfall. No doubt much of those 16 years of “profit” were partially due to tucking that particular issue under the rug…

  23. CaligulaJones says:

    er, see “pension shortfall”, for “shortfall”.

  24. Matt says:

    I don’t think the Liberals are going to make as much noise about this as some here think/hope.

    In 680 News’ (radio station here in Toronto) story, they ran a clip of a Liberal MP (it was a lady, didn’t catch the name) talking about it. There was no outrage. She just explained you’ll have a community mailbox on your street or you can rent a box from CP or a private outlet.

    Even Liberal Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne had a ho-hum response saying CP needs to change.

  25. Dennis says:

    I grew up in small-town Newfoundland, and had to go to the post office for my mail. Then, a community box in the late 80s/early 90s. Now in Kanata, and have a community box again.

    This is a non-issue.

  26. Matt says:

    I’m more disturbed they are increasing the price of a stamp to $1.00 in March (85 cents if buying in bulk)

    • Robin says:

      Really? What do you pay for the coffee you drink with friends at Tim Hortons, Starbucks or some other coffee shop? I think the price to send a letter or small package is too low and has been for some time. People don’t hesitate to pay $2.00 for a medium sized cup of coffee to drink while they complain about the cost of stamps. A stamp covers the cost of sending a letter size envelope from one end of Canada to the other through a crown corporation with a national mandate to provide service to every corner of our great country, its massive territory, and severe weather conditions.

      Frankly, I think coffee prices in the private sector are too high, I can hardly afford stamps!!

      • Matt says:

        I make coffee at home and take it with me. 🙂

        • Warren says:

          Boy, the Cons are out in full force, trying to polish this turd.

          You’re done, boys. Just wait.

          • david ray says:

            screwed if they do it and screwed if they try to walk it back. who came up with this one.

          • Matt says:

            You might be right, you might be wrong. We’ll know in 2015. But by my count, there have been at least a dozen things since 2006 that were supposed to spell the end of the CPC’s reign and didn’t.

            For the record, yes I have voted Conservative since 2006. I voted for the Liberals from my first federal vote in 1993 and again in 1997, 2000, and 2004.

            I’m not a member of the Conservative Party, nor have I ever donated to any party.

          • CaligulaJones says:

            Can I wait for Trudeau to tell us where he is going to find the $1billion for the pension shortfall? The money for the pay equity (which would mean that his dad and Mr. Chretien were short changing female workers for decades…

  27. Windsurfer says:

    All you New-Age’rs can speak for yourselves.

    I’m part of a small business enterprise-type model and we rely on Canada Post for a lot of out-going mailing and parcel services, not to mention the yearly receipt of cheques in the tens of thousands of dollars by mail.

    My local postal outlet is a hub of activity, used by multiple businesses and individuals.

    Cut this service to the bone at your own peril.

    Yes, we use PayPal and yes, the electronic communication amongst key players in our network is growing, but Canada Post and all its tentacles still play an important role…

    • CaligulaJones says:

      The story is about ending home delivery, and charging more for stamps.

      Your business model doesn’t appear be affected by the former, and the later is a cost of doing business. Pass it on to your customers, eat it, or change your business model. Don’t ask me to continue paying for something I don’t use or need. I didn’t use Blockbuster, either.

      Much like the commenter above who would want us to believe that there will be no post office at all, this is just muddying the waters.

    • Matt says:

      The changes announced today are for urban, RESIDENTIAL mail delivery. Nothing to do with business clients.

      • I run a Construction business from a home office. I do NOT get delivery to my door. Last month I had to knock on doors up and down the street trying to track down a six figure cheque delivered to the wrong postal box. I would estimate 10% of my mail is misdirected like that, and I blame it on those anonymous boxes. In my youth, the letter carrier KNEW me by name, and the mail was always delivered to the right door. Purolator (Owned by Canada Post) is indispensible for me though. It is the one courier that is generally reliable, and even people in remote locations know how to get a purolator package to me quickly. I am sure that Canada Post has many many opportunities to leverage their current reach to virtually everyone, as they did with Purolator. They should be carrying half the other courier companies parcels and letters, because the big american couriers are freakin idiots with CRAPPY Canadian service, and rude’n stoopid employees.

  28. hatrock says:

    Business mail will continue. This cut is only for urban door-to-door at homes. Condos and apartments will continue to receive mail in their little boxes. That said, the increase in the price of stamps will greatly affect businesses, non-profit organizations, and charities.

  29. G. Babbitt says:

    Will Kevin Costner being doing voiceovers for Liberal ads now?

  30. Tony Miller says:

    This is shocking. The Liberals need to hold a presser NOW and say “We will not let home delivery die. Seniors need it. The infirm need it. Canadians deserve this essential service. We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world and we can afford it. What’s more, we will make sure that Canada Post evolves and turns a profit.”

    Sometimes the opposition hands you a gift. This one just came in the mail.

  31. I had an idea… if that’s the criteria, why don’t they cut the “economic development” agencies? Those never turn a profit. In fact I believe they’re in the red every year, have been since they were originally created, to the tune of millions of taxpayers’ dollars per year.

    Seems there are different rules for different agencies and Departments.

  32. Marky Mark says:

    Two things.
    First, Canada Post has an important, legislated responsibility : provide equal mail service to all Canadians. This may not seem like a big issue to those living in urban areas but out there in the wild rural lands it’s important to be able to send and receive mail at a fair price, especially if your internet connection still makes beeping noises. If we get to a place where sending mail from Toronto to Montreal costs a buck, from St-John’s to Moncton costs five dollars, and from Whitehorse to Vancouver is 25$, then businesses outside the large urban centers will be at a significant disadvantage. And we might get there quickly if Canada Post goes from making profits to deficits as it’s mandate is slowly reformed.
    Second, I imagine this will now be the topic of choice for many kitchen and couch political discussions during the holidays, supplanting the senate scandal and Rod Ford. Changing the channel anyone?

  33. Pipes says:

    My father is 84 years old and likes his independence. He has a bad back and shouldnt have to walk to the mail boxes. This really affects seniors especially during inclement weather. So those of you dismissing this as a non-issue, maybe put a bit more thought into it.

    I suppose Canada Post considered once a week delivery and other methods before cancelling our service. Gee, I don’t remember being asked about this or being given an opportunity to comment. Maybe I missed it.

    Do MP’s get paid for the 3 or 4 weeks they are off?

    My two dogs are pissed right off. Now who are they going to bark at?

  34. liam says:

    I’d love to pile on and say, ‘hell ya’, some reason to finally hang that slimey bugger Harper.

    Unfortunately, Canada Post has outlived its usefulness. All we’re doing is subsidizing big marketers and magazine companies for their distribution costs. Stop doing that and you’ll be able to make it last a little longer, but the patient will still die sooner rather than later.

    Here’s an idea: why don’t we take the CBC, Canada Post and a few other organizations and roll them up into the Canadian Communications Company, where the focus is on delivery of content and not creation of content.

    With Canada Post (revised), the mandate will be the creation of an email for every Canadian, something that will be protected from privacy invasion (I know … I’m being utopian) and available anywhere, any time. They could also have a new mandate of offering hosting services to any qualifying small business.

    With CBC, stop crying about lost revenue with HNIC and let’s shoot for the real net: Internet Service Provider and wireless services. Turn the CBC into Canada’s public option for internet and wireless services and have a little competition for a change. Take all of those unemployed RIM employees and turn them into programmers for a new network committed to best service everywhere for all Canadians.

    THAT would be the election winner.

  35. Kaplan says:

    Warren’s correct. This is huge, and will have major impacts on peoples lives, especially seniors and people with mobility issues, never mind the wholesale change experienced by every Canadian.

    Given a choice between losing home mail delivery and keeping it, I know where most peoples vote goes.

  36. Domenico says:

    This is a big deal on a couple of fronts. A stop in service to seniors and the infirm. Increased cost to consumers and businesses. No consultation.
    Rolled out with the usual Conservative “cut and run” Parliamentary tactic. Despite the denials by all the Conservative polishers in here, this is a big issue.

  37. Cynical says:

    The Liberals should be very careful of this issue. Oppose on this one and then, after getting elected, you might have to do the same thing. And the conbots will then be out in force with their clever comments about “lying liberals”, etc.

    I feel bad for the outside workers. Most of the ones I’ve met love their jobs and go the extra mile to deliver good service.

  38. ottawacon says:

    Somehow, I doubt the Conservatives will be too hard hit. Only 1/3rd of the population gets it now, overwhelmingly in the larger cities. It is an oversimplification, but mail is door-to-door in the 416. It is already going to community boxes in the 905.

  39. Vankleek Hill says:

    I think you underestimate the Canadian public Warren. You want to know why people liked the Chretien Liberals during your time? Because they balanced the budget, and ran surpluses.Canadians like to watch their dollars…. Canada Post is a money pit. It’s mostly junk mail that goes straight into the recycling bin. A new formula is needed.

  40. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Think this one is a non-starter. Billion $$$ per year losses by 2020 under current regime…and for what, to get what amounts to about 80% junk mail delivered to one’s door????

    My take is that an ever increasing number of people…meaning taxpayers…are getting fed up with subsidizing losing causes.

    Like, f’rinstance, the CBC, solar/wind power projects, and industry that can’t pay it’s own way.

  41. po'd says:

    A good number of comments here represent thoughts of people who are young enough and able to walk or drive to community mail boxes or Postal outlets and they display an attitude that centres around themselves. Among the things they don’t take into consideration is these proposed changes would represent significant cost for many people, some of whom simply don’t have extra expendable income to allocate for yet another rising cost for basic services. They especially don’t take into consideration the elderly and or disabled people who struggle with mobility and those with income restraints. A double whammy.

    They do however take into consideration themselves, in the short term at least, which of course ignores another growing social problem

    It’s like ultra low interest rates that are very popular with younger citizens who are still able to earn and plan to work and earn for some number of years. They enjoy those rates as it allows them to purchase many things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to make the payments on if rates were at traditional norms. From grand houses to vehicles and an endless array of toys to amuse themselves and often, their offspring.

    Meanwhile, the elderly receive 2% or so for interest on safe investments. Hardly a substantial income booster in your old age when the cost of necessities isn’t based on their income, but on the incomes of those still healthy and earning. So the elders reward for their work, frugality and savings is to worry about having enough to cover basic necessities.

    Yet these young consumers still eye the old people’s house, the family heirlooms and wonder how much Grandpa and Grandma will leave them? Some are even bold enough to stake a claim for favorite assets.

    Grandpa, whatever you do, don’t sell the Gran Torino.

  42. Steve T says:

    I am very glad that home delivery is being eliminated. Here in Winnipeg, only those houses that are 20+ years old receive home delivery. The rest of us poor saps subsidize the privileged few. That’s the story that Canada Post, and this government, should be presenting.

    • Scaramu says:

      I am in winnipeg and the people in the older homes have paid their taxes over the years and have paid for our infrastructure.
      The older communities will be paying for all your infrastructure for years to come in your cookie cutter community. Deficits started when the cons took power.
      But I am glad to hear your dislike of deficits.
      Surely you must be appalled at the cons record since being in power ??
      Vote Liberal! You do remember what a surplus was. Ehh

      • Steve T says:

        Here is the hole in your logic. If a 25-year old newly-married couple buys a house built in 1950, they get home delivery of mail. If the same couple buys a home built in 2005, they don’t. The couple has paid the same amount of tax in their life.

        Or are you suggesting that the older generation(s) who lived in the 1950s house previously are willingly subsidizing the younger generation?

        My comments are not supporting one political party vs the other. My comments are supporting the decision to stop having a two-tier postal system, that is based solely on where you live in the city.

        • Scaramu says:

          No hole?
          If you choose to move further away from the city center then those are some of perks you choose to relinquish.
          You dont have sidewalks on your streets? Call it 2 tier? You choose to move/build out there.
          You actually need those mail box towers in your area. Makes up for the lack of trees 🙂

          There are several options for Canada Post but the Cons went with gutting it.
          Part of the plan to get rid of Unions.

  43. e.a.f. says:

    Clusters of mail boxes instead of home deliver, won’t save any money. stevie slime just wants to get rid of as many unionized workers as he can. These clusters of mail boxes will have mail delivered by contracted out workers, as we have in rural areas. the contract goes to the lowest bidder. you can image the level of service and the security offered. There are many who do not want their government cheques sent to bank accounts. they want the cheques sent in the mail. people will still need their bills delivered. what these clusters of mail boxes will do is make it easier for crooks to steal mail. Of course in established neighbourhoods the fight will be on to not have them on their front lawn.

    will it make a difference to the voting pubic. that will be hard to say. many haven’t had home mail delivery since mulroney started changed the game rules. how interesting that another con is going to finish the postal service off. What was really funny was the cost of stamps is going up, but not for bulk junk mail.

    As stevie slime once said, we won’t recognize Canada once he is through with it.

    A surplus in the government accounts? Not with a conservative government. Whether it is in Canada or the U.S.A. cons always manage to cut services and raise the deficiet.

    My only concern about Trudeau the younger is his affliation to the B.C. Liberals, who are such low level operators. If he can’t seperate himself from the Christy clark crew, he won’t get many votes in B.C. The stench from them and having the highest child poverty rate in Canada, will make him an easy target.

    • Matt says:

      The BC Liberals are a mix of Liberals and Conservatives.

      IIRC, both Harper and Trudeau stayed well away from them in the last provincial election.

      People in BC can’t be all that upset with the child poverty rate. The BC Liberals were re-elected with a bigger majority.

  44. Attack! says:

    That “only 1/3 get it now” figure is misleading —

    the 2/3rds includes addresses in apartment blocks & collective dwellings like nursing homes, where people just have to go downstairs to the lobby: which counts as delivered to them, for the purpose of this discussion (versus having to go outside, up the street or to a postal outlet).

    I wonder if it’s more like 50/50 if those were added to the ‘doorstep’ deliveries or taken out of the equation altogether.

    • Matt says:

      The CP figures say there are 15 million residences they deliver to.

      Of those, 5 million get mail delivered to their door.

      • Attack! says:

        Yes, but that’s what I’m driving at: I think it’s being misreported. I think it’s 15 million ADDRESSES, of which, what, millions may be apartments, not separate residences, so who aren’t put out by not having it delivered directly to their door.

        Still looking for national breakdowns, but here’s a snapshot of one city, circa 2007:

        “For example, even though only 38% of households in the city of Ottawa live in a single family home …apartment buildings …house 35% of households.”

        http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2008001/article/10459-eng.htm at n. 18

      • Attack! says:

        Getting there: the 2011 Census* indicates there’s only a Total of 13,320,610 Private Households (which doesn’t include collective dwellings like group or nursing homes) in all of Canada —

        of which 2,397,550 are in apartment buildings of less than 5 storeys; and 1,234,770 are in apartment building 5 or more storeys..

        I.e., there are 3.6M total residences in apt. blocks: 27% of all private households.

        If we took them out of the 15M total addressees, it’d be 44% of the remaining addresses getting home delivery.

        If we included them WITH them, it’d be 57% who get it either to their door or to their lobby.

        Like I said, I think there’s something *very* fishy going on with their only 1/3 figure.

        ———

        * Source: Statistics Canada, 2011 Census of Population, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-313-XCB2011022.

        Topic-based tabulation: Household Type (17), Household Size (9) and Structural Type of Dwelling (10) for Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2011 Census

  45. jen says:

    Why all the hate for Canada Post?

  46. tbear says:

    I find it funny when folks from urban Canada compain about loosing services that rural folks lost years ago or never had. Warren obviously doesn’t get mail in Bancroft!

  47. Sorry Warren, I think you have stretched a “BREAKING” headline a bridge too far. Home delivery of mail is a non-issue for the vast majority. As long as someone retains a flying squad for delivering mail to shut-ins and incapacitated seniors, no one will even notice.

  48. Sort of off topic, but if the headline I saw in the Globe this morning is a taste of the future, Wynn just cooked her own goose as well. To whit: “Wynne will run on promise to raise taxes for transit in next election”

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/kathleen-wynne-will-run-on-promise-to-raise-taxes-for-transit-in-next-election/article15943546/

  49. Tim says:

    I don’t see this as a huge issue at all. Not that I vote conservative either… but frankly it’s kind of sensible. I grew up with a central box and now it comes to my door, but I don’t get enough letters to warrant door delivery. I mainly get annoying pizza ads and other stupid junk mail. Heck, going to pick up your mail at a local box just might foster some exercise and interaction with neighbours.

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