The zombie corp

Thirty-five years ago the boss asked me to dive into the future of the post office.

“I want a recommendation if Canada Post should be privatized,” Brian Mulroney said one day after QP, as we met behind the gold curtains hanging around the House of Commons chamber. “If not, how do we make it work?”

In 1990 I was chairman of an influential all-party Parliamentary committee on consumer and corporate affairs. So, being a good little soldier, I started an investigation, called witnesses to testify, including government officials, major clients and union bosses, travelled the country and eventually issued a report. Called ‘Moving the Mail’ it concluded that things were seriously messed up. They had to change. Without reform the postal service would be gutted by email, lose billions and ultimately fail.

The union called me scum. The government sat on the recommendations – which included stopping the delivery of mail door-to-door and a move away from letttermail into the package business. That made sense. And, of course, here we are.

So this is the front door of my local Canada Post outlet this morning.

The locals have been on strike after the government announced plans to end door-to-door mail delivery – in a few years. This is decades too late, and after Canada Post Corporation lost $5 billion in the past year, bailed out with a $1 billion government loan. The union announced today (Friday) it is switching from a general strike to rotating walkouts, effective tomorrow.

Obviously the post office is pooched.

Sad. It was formed 16 years before Canada was even born as a country, and operated as a federal government department until 1981. Then it become a crown corporation with the twin mandates of serving all Canadians, everywhere, and being financially self-sustaining.

But those goals are mutually exclusive. No organization can deliver pieces of paper across thousands of kilometres daily for pocket change, while operating thousands of vehicles, maintaining 5,755 locations and employing 70,000 people, mostly members of a hostile union. Without unaddressed ad mail (like the local paper I volunteer a weekly column to) things would be even more dire.

As we all know, the last three decades brought electronic mail and ubiquitous online commerce, then a pandemic that caused digital shopping and instant parcel delivery to be the national norm. All new addresses got community Canada Post boxes instead of guys with bags, and lots of places (like where I live most of the time) require residents to retrieve everything directly from the local office. But, alas, four million houeholds still get personalized daily physical deliveries. The recent suggestion to stop that caused the whole system to shut down, as workers stormed out.

Now, why does this matter?

Canada Post Corporation is a zombie outfit. The walking dead. It cannot survive in its present form unless the Carney government gives in – like the Mulroney outfit did – and continues to shovel public money into the furnace. Making the post office a crown corporation bought politicians some time, but was no solution.

Word is the annual deficit number will be $70 billion when the first Carney federal budget drops on November 3rd. Some people are even talking a hundred billion – a lot of that money borrowed for ‘nation-building’ infrastructure projects to lessen our dependency on you-know-who. Mines. Ports. Reactors. Maybe a pipeline. Subs, planes and guns. Big, expensive stuff.

But the budget is also swelling uncontrollably with social program spending we cannot easily afford, from cheapo child care to wrinklie pogey, dentalcare, Indigenous spending and health transfers. And if it is to survive, more bailouts for the postal service.

Urbanites may not get this, but in much of Canada the post office is Canada. The sole, identifiable, enduring and working link to the federal government. Once that is shuttered, the bond dies. Social media wins. There will be consequences.

Carney says the budget will have two these. Investment and austerity. The posties must already now they’ll be on the wrong side of that trade.

About the picture: “Here’s a pic of Aero enjoying the fall day we’re having in the Kawarthas,” writes Charlie in Ontario. “He was recently diagnosed with Cushing’s syndrome so he has some up and down days. Today was a great day with his usual focused and chipper self. Thanks for all you do in giving back to the community. It is appreciated!”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2025/10/10/the-zombie-corp/