OTTAWA — It's a little early to tell if the idea will fly, but Canada Post is starting to look at the role of drones in making deliveries. The post office is quietly exploring the possibility of small, unmanned aerial vehicles one day helping get the mail to where it needs to go, said Jon Hamilton, a Canada Post spokesman. "We are in a competitive space, especially when it comes to parcel delivery and things like that,'' Hamilton said in an interview. In the post office's 250-year history, the manner of getting letters and parcels to Canadians has evolved from a couple of horses to trains, trucks and planes — so it makes sense to eye lightweight, remote-controlled aircraft, he said. "We do look into these things.''

A drone carrying a mail box of Swiss Post is flying on July 7, 2015 above the airport of Bellechasse, western Switzerland during a press conference. Swiss Post started a series of test for parcel delivery by drone. (Photo: Getty Images) The tiny flying machines have become immensely popular with hobbyists. But they're also used for a variety of government-related and commercial applications, including agricultural surveys, movie shoots, police investigations, meteorology, and search and rescue. Canada Post declined to release documents through the Access to Information Act about its interest in drones, citing sensitivities such as trade secrets and financial, commercial, scientific or technical data. But Hamilton insists there are no drone prototypes in the post office laboratory — at least not yet. He characterized the effort as a "paper exercise'' at the very early exploratory stages, aimed at "examining what's out there today.''