EDER: Privatizing Canada Post is the only solution left

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Canada Post is bleeding taxpayers dry. In 2024 alone, it lost nearly $1.3 billion and saw revenues fall by $800 million — a staggering 12.2 per cent year-over-year decline. These grim figures forced a $1 billion taxpayer bailout in January.

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And the crisis is far from over. Beginning in 2026, Canada Post itself projects it will need another $1 billion every year simply to survive.

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This is not a temporary slump. It is a structural failure. Since 2018, Canada Post has accumulated losses of more than $3.8 billion. The message is clear: Canadians aren’t getting mail — they’re getting fleeced.

Yet despite overwhelming evidence of collapse, proposals to privatize the service continue to face resistance from those nostalgic for a bygone era. That nostalgia is costly. Every billion-dollar bailout is a billion dollars not spent on hospitals, schools and infrastructure. Imagine what $1 billion a year could mean for health care wait times, long-term care beds, or repairing crumbling bridges. Instead, Canadians are spending it to keep an outdated postal service on life support.

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Critics of privatization argue that only a public entity can guarantee affordable, universal service. They warn that private operators would reduce access, raise prices and abandon rural Canada.

But the European experience tells a different story. Germany’s Deutsche Post, privatized in 1995, expanded its services globally while maintaining affordable domestic delivery. The Netherlands’ PostNL streamlined operations and introduced innovative parcel services to meet the demands of online shopping. Austria Post invested heavily in automation and developed flexible delivery options. In all three cases, universal service requirements were preserved, prices remained affordable, and customers benefited from enhanced, innovative services.

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By contrast, Canada Post’s outdated monopoly model is a straitjacket. It must deliver to every address, no matter the cost, while being forced to seek government approval for even modest changes. This bureaucracy means political considerations routinely trump business logic. While private competitors can adjust pricing, delivery models and technology overnight, Canada Post waits months — sometimes years — for permission to act.

As if structural flaws weren’t enough, labour instability has become another costly burden. A recent 32-day strike cost Canada Post more than $200 million.

While the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has every right to defend its members, it has consistently resisted reforms like flexible staffing and automated systems. These are precisely the changes needed to bring the service into the modern era. With taxpayer bailouts guaranteeing survival, CUPW faces little pressure to change course. Canada Post has become less of a postal service than a taxpayer-funded job protection scheme.

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Former CEO Moya Greene understood this reality. After leaving Canada Post, she led the UK’s Royal Mail through successful privatization. Her experience showed that public postal services can modernize without abandoning universal service. The lesson is simple: performance improves when failure is possible.

Critics warn about the dangers of the profit motive. But Canada Post already raises postage rates while continuing to post massive losses. Canadians are paying more and getting less. Profit, unlike politics, demands accountability. Companies that fail to deliver value lose customers. Crown corporations, shielded by bailouts, lose nothing.

Fixing Canada Post will take more than tinkering. Incremental reforms cannot solve a billion-dollar-a-year problem. Canada must end its monopoly, open the market and privatize the service. A privatized model can be designed to ensure continued universal delivery, just as in Europe, while giving operators the flexibility to innovate and compete.

Privatization is neither reckless nor radical. It is a proven solution to a financial and operational crisis. Canadians deserve more than excuses and nostalgia. They deserve a postal service that delivers goods to Canadians, not one that delivers bills to taxpayers.

— Conrad Eder is a policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

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