Canada Post is keeping secret most of the details about its mail delivery problems in the GTA this past December and January — including the total amount of overtime paid out to letter carriers at the time.

The Crown corporation maintains that the amount, as well as most of the content in Canada Post staff emails obtained by the Star through a Freedom of Information request, is “commercially sensitive and therefore confidential,” said spokesman Jon Hamilton.

“As you know, Canada Post operates within a highly competitive logistics and delivery industry,” he wrote in an email.

A leading expert said Canada Post does not seem to understand the Access to Information Act.

“They say they’re in competition, but they have a monopoly, and their sole shareholder is the public, who have a right to this information,” said University of Ottawa law professor Michel W. Drapeau, co-author of Federal Access to Information and Privacy Legislation Annotated.

Canada Post, which has been subject to the Act since 2007, received an ‘F’ from Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault in 2012 for its handling of access requests.

The corporation has also previously denied the Star’s FOI request for the full amount it paid to fight a decades-long pay equity case, citing solicitor-client privilege. The Star has appealed that decision to the Office of the Information Commissioner and will appeal the latest ruling as well.

During the 2013 ice storm and the aftermath, people across the GTA complained of going weeks without mail and receiving little information from Canada Post. After the Star wrote about the problems, the corporation implemented a new alert system to notify customers of any weather-related delays.

Canada Post says the storm caused many full-time and relief carriers to take time off. The union accuses Canada Post of not replenishing its list of temporary workers.

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The Star requested access to all emails related to GTA delivery problems sent between Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra and staff, and between Doug Jones, senior vice-president of delivery and customer experience, and staff between Dec. 15, 2013 and Jan. 14, 2014.

Not a single email from Chopra was obtained, while out of the 32 pages of emails from Jones, about 20 were almost completely censored.

Chopra was criticized by the union and customers for failing to speak publicly at the height of the delivery issues in January. When he finally spoke to the Star, he apologized for the lack of information and said he should have spoken up sooner.

When asked Monday why no Chopra emails were turned over to the Star, Hamilton said the CEO was involved in restoring service to customers, but that those discussions mainly took place in meetings or over the phone. Neither Chopra nor Jones was made available for comment. Hamilton said both had already outlined the corporation’s response to the Star before.

When it became evident that whole routes had gone weeks without mail, Canada Post began imposing forced overtime in some pockets of the GTA in mid-January.

But it declined to tell the Star how much it paid out in overtime. Nor would it say how many full-time carriers were absent between Dec. 20, 2013, and Jan. 6, 2014, or how many relief workers were called in.

Drapeau pointed to sections of the Access to Information Act that say Canada Post cannot refuse records related to the “general administration of an institution” and “any activity of the Canada Post Corporation that is fully funded out of monies appropriated by Parliament.”

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“What you’re asking in terms of overtime is pure administration,” Drapeau said.

Most of Jones’ emails turned over to the Star are heavily censored. One full-page email he sent on Jan. 10 to a superior is almost completely blank. All that is left is “Jacques, (censored text), Have a good weekend, Doug.”

The few emails obtained in their entirety show Canada Post was making an effort to find positive stories of mail delivery in spite of the bad weather that it could provide to the media, as well as to raise staff morale.

In an email to managers in January, Jones said Canada Post’s relief and casual pool was increased to 1,250 ahead of the holiday season, but only about 30 to 40 per cent of those workers were available each day due to the weather. He said supervisors also helped to deliver mail.

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