OTTAWA—The New Democrats would force Canada Post to bring back door-to-door delivery of the mail through legislation if there was no other way to reverse the recent service cuts, says Thomas Mulcair.

“Canadian taxpayers are the only shareholders of Canada Post. We would act in accordance with the law and we would make sure that the decision we have taken and what we have promised to taxpayers we would do, would be carried through,” Mulcair said in an interview with the Star during his eight-day campaign-style swing through Ontario.

Mulcair confirmed he was talking about forcing the reversal by changing the law, if necessary and possible, should the NDP form government after the Oct. 19 federal election.

“We are elected on a platform and we are allowed to bring in legislative plans that would allow us to put that into effect if that were necessary, but before going that route, we would make sure there were no other possibilities in ensuring that the clear will of the government would be carried out,” Mulcair said.

“If it required legislative change, it would be legislative change, but we would look at all aspects before necessarily going down that route,” said Mulcair.

Canada Post announced in December 2013 that it was planning to phase out home delivery service nationwide and replace it with community mailboxes, a move explained as a way to save money — about $500 million annually, once the conversion is complete — as mail volume decreases in an increasingly digital age.

The Crown Corporation said the decision would affect the 32 per cent of households in the country that still had mail delivered right to the doors and that it expects roughly 1 million households to be converted by the end of this year.

Citing the fact that Canada Post is still making a profit — it posted $194 million in pre-tax profits for 2014 — the NDP promised in May they would restore the service if they won the election, but never specified how much it would cost or how it would go about it.

Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May have all written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the issue, asking him to direct Canada Post halt the phase-out plan until after voters have gone to the polls.

The Liberals have promised to stop the phase-out and then conduct a review of Canada Post to ensure it is fulfilling its mandate.

Jon Hamilton, a spokesman for Canada Post, said he did not want to get into hypothetical discussions about legislative changes, but noted the phase-out is permitted under its existing mandate and did not require changes to the Canadian Postal Service Charter or the Canada Post Corporation Act.

“Our focus is on implementing that plan, because we have a responsibility, very simply, to serve all Canadian addresses, which we are proud to do, and do so in a financially self-sufficient manner and not turn to the taxpayers to operate the postal service,” Hamilton said in an interview.

Mike Palecek, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which wants the Federal Court to declare the change unconstitutional, said that it would be “pretty simple” to reverse the changes.

“Canada Post already has restructuring teams in place they regularly use to restructure the routes in every station, so this isn’t so far out of the normal for them. It would be pretty simple to do, logistically,” Palecek said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The Star requested an interview with Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, who is responsible for the Canada Post Corporation.

Her spokeswoman Ashley Kelahear declined the interview, saying the postal service is responsible for its own business decisions, but did email a statement accusing the NDP of planning to raise taxes in order to pay for their promise.

Read more about: