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“I think I made my point,” he boasted Friday.

Over the weekend it emerged that Harper’s government had made its point as well: a new five-year contract extension for Canada Post boss Deepak Chopra, the man behind the transition plan. Chopra will make $500,000 a year through February 2021, by which time home delivery would be history and the postal service would be saving between $500 million and $1 billion a year as a result. It’s a telling deal for a government notorious for its alleged dislike of civil servants. The Tories have been on a crusade to cut costs, reduce the size of the bureaucracy and narrow the gap between public service benefits and those of other working Canadians. But Deepak Chopra? He gets five more years, making $200,000 more than the Prime Minister. Get the message Mr. Mayor?

The Conservatives have good reason for wanting to keep Chopra on the job. The volume of letters sent by Canadians has been collapsing in the face of electronic competition, at the same time payroll costs are rising and pension demands for postal employees increase. The pension plan has $21 billion in assets but is still short $7 billion, and pressure will only grow as the ranks of postal workers dwindles and the number of retirees swells.

Nonetheless, since being named chief executive in 2011, Chopra has cut the losses and produced a profit of $24 million in the first quarter of this year, largely through its parcel service. To keep from falling back into the red, Canada Post needs to continue expanding profitable services while discontinuing legacy activities that are dying in the face of changing consumer demand. Chief among those is letter mail, which is on a relentless decline.