Canada Post should be told its idea is too short- sighted
Municipal officials across the West Island have resigned themselves to Canada Post’s plan to eliminate door- to- door delivery in many parts of this region later this year. They have opted to co- operate with the crown corporation to find locations where community mailboxes can be installed. They should stop.
Canada Post’s plan is flawed and short- sighted. Why should any municipal government go along with it?
And if municipal officials believe it is not their place to get involved with the fight, they still have time to reconsider. These boxes — at least a vast majority of them — will be installed on municipal land. They will be set up on the sides of parks, by municipal buildings and public utilities. Just visit neighbourhoods where these boxes are already in use. That is exactly where they are located.
This is not to say that these locations are inherently a bad idea. They work. Again, simply visit neighbourhoods where they are installed. There is no real problem with them. But these locations and Canada Post’s need to obtain permission to install the boxes at these sites give municipalities a certain amount of clout. They need to use it. Because they will be the ones holding the bag in a few years.
Canada Post is looking to cut labour costs, a reaction to the drop in demand for its service. This reality has been coming for some time. Technology is not- soslowly eliminating paper bills, flyers, even magazine subscrip- tions — all things that used to fill the mail carrier’s bag. And it is going to continue. So why invest in community mailbox infrastructure? Where is the post office’s business plan? Where will Canada Post be in five years from now? Seven years? We don’t know. But the community mailboxes will be there — used or unused at that time, they will be cluttering up the local landscape. And will taxpayers even have paid them off yet?
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is right to be joining the legal challenge in Federal Court against Canada Post’s phase- out of door- to- door delivery. Montreal, however, has a little more time than West Island suburbs, which will be transitioned to community boxes first. A bad idea should not be allowed to take up too much public space.