Letter to the Honourable Lawrence Cannon

February 9, 2006

Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Mr. Cannon:

I would like to congratulate you on your election.

As you may know from our recent letter to the Prime Minister, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is very eager to meet with you and begin what we hope will be an honest and open dialogue on the future of our public postal system. (See attached letter to Stephen Harper). CUPW hopes that you will be able to meet with us as soon as possible to discuss two urgent matters that affect the very fabric of this system: Canada Post’s review of its national postal network and the moratorium on rural post office closures.

The network review includes Canada Post’s plans to close the mail processing plant in Quebec City. We understand that Canada Post intends to meet with you to explain their position on the closure of Quebec City. We would like an opportunity to provide you with the facts.

We recognize that ministers are, according to the new guidelines, responsible for “providing broad policy direction to the corporation” and are not to become involved in the day-to-day operations of a Crown corporation.

CUPW strongly believes that your responsibility to provide broad policy direction obliges you to deal with fundamental issues such as the integrity of our public postal network. Many people and municipalities appear to agree with this assessment.

In fact, over 800 municipalities sent letters to the former minister responsible for Canada Post, asking him to instruct Canada Post to stop closing plants and post offices.

I am attaching some earlier correspondence with the Conservative Party on the moratorium and the network review. I look forward to having the opportunity to discuss these matters with you.

Yours truly,

Deborah Bourque
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers

Encl.

c.c.: CUPW National Executive Board
Regional Education and Organization Officers
National Union Representatives
Specialists
All CUPW locals
All members of Parliament
Gilles Duceppe, Leader, Bloc Quebecois
Bill Graham, Interim Leader, Liberal Party
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
Jack Layton, Leader, New Democratic Party
Leslie Schous, President, Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Richard Des Lauriers, President, Union of Postal Communications Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada