The union head representing 54,000 Canadian postal workers is currently on a cross-Canada road trip in an RV that doubles as a billboard.



The 32-foot mobile trailer has the message Stop the Cuts! Save Canada Post emblazoned across it, as it visits cities and towns across the country to protest the cuts to Canada’s mail service that were announced in December 2013. The cuts involve installing community mailboxes in lieu of door-to-door service in many communities.

Mike Palecek, the national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says the message behind the tour is to get people out to vote ahead of the federal election, and to make the changes to Canada Post an election issue.



“We want to make sure exactly who to blame for these cuts, and that’s Stephen Harper and the Conservative government,” he told Yahoo Canada News.

Palecek says there’s been a “rising tide” of opposition to the cuts, mainly from senior citizens and people with mobility issues. He says the cuts don’t make sense since Canada Post still makes profits, bringing in $200 million last year.



“They would arguably be making much more if they weren’t spending it on infrastructure putting these boxes in and fighting court cases in municipalities and anyone else who are opposed to these cuts,” he says. “We’ve been relatively sure we can return these services to the people who are in the process of losing them now without actually costing taxpayers a dime.”

The Liberals have vowed to put a moratorium on future cuts to the mail service and the NDP have said they will overturn the cuts entirely and restore door-to-door delivery. According to Palecek, Canada Post is self-sufficient and taxpayers have not put money towards it for 20 years.

The union head adds that while mail has decreased drastically as a result of things like online banking and emails, there are other ways for Canada Post to stay relevant and turn a profit. Adding recourses like postal banking and providing cellphone services would help negate the decline in letter mail.

“(Other postal outlets around the world are) expanding into new services, which allow them to continue to support the other services as they’ll decline in the future,” says Palecek.

The RV will continue to tour the country, which began mid-July, until election day on Oct. 19, stopping at post office headquarters and cities along the way.