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As the unofficial federal election campaign begins, the installation of community mailboxes in urban areas is generating more angry complaints from constituents than any other issue, says Ottawa-Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar.

The mailboxes that replace the door-to-door delivery city residents once enjoyed are being placed in two areas of Dewar’s riding: Westboro Beach, north of the Transitway, and in an area off Prince of Wales Drive.

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Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press

Disputes with Canada Post over the locations of the boxes are the leading complaints, Dewar says.

“I’ve had many constituents ticked off about the lack of consultation,” he said.

“It’s a mess. This has taken over as the key constituency issue, now that the boxes are hitting the streets.”

Dewar said he understands that although the rollout of the mailboxes that began last year is supposed to take five years, he has seen notices from Canada Post that list Oct. 19 as a target date to switch over some neighbourhoods.