Railroads and mail service by steamer – that’s how the nation was built.
Labourers toiled with picks and shovels to build the rail line across Canada. Hard to think of, isn’t it?
Now, we have heavy semis wearing out our best paved roads. Gravel roads are pounded as agricultural products travel miles between inland terminals. Petroleum products and service vehicles also have no short line rails to use.
So what about snail mail?
While most of us say ‘Hi’ to our loved ones and send payments over the internet, meanwhile, parcel mail is apparently a growing business; and funnily enough, this is because of internet shopping.
I know – that’s me. I love getting parcels in the mail all year long. Never mind that I probably paid for it myself, weeks ago, unless the order was sent ‘priority’ service, which gets you ‘stuff’ in about three days, with fairy dust.
For rural people, well for almost anyone, on-line shopping is a lot simpler than driving miles (through traffic, poor city folks) from store to store to find the right item at the best price.
So, please, Prime Minister Trudeau and public servants, please fine-tune and improve this service to all. Eliminate door-to-door delivery to cut overhead, and ensure we continue to have postal service at local post offi ces.
Let’s not have the same short-sighted approach that took out rail lines only to see billions of dollars of damage to transportation systems by the switch to heavy trucking. Didn’t see that coming?
We’re taking for granted what we have, of course - the option to send traceable items, even insured items through the mail, priority post, money orders...
Of course, it is quicker to email a money transaction.
But still, we need to be able to receive documents through the mail. You can even send the PM, or any elected official, a piece of your mind – free franking! Stamps, however, are a cool bit of history-making artwork on an envelope, hence stamp collections.
Maybe, charge another 50 cents per stamp, but retain our local post offices.
Do we privatize, or does the Crown Corporation continue? Purolator is 91 percent owned by Canada Post.
Is this service vital to our cohesion and function as a nation? From the public’s point of view, timelier postal service would keep it relevant. But, how to provide that? For postal workers, mail service is in danger of being further sidelined by other courier and digital delivery. What does that mean for jobs? Will this government take responsibility to see that the postal system continues and improves?
