The losses are mounting. The bailout money is almost gone. And if Prime Minister Mark Carney doesn’t privatize Canada Post now, Canadian taxpayers will be up a creek.
For 10 long years, the federal Liberals refused to admit there was even a problem at Canada Post.
Finally, after billions of dollars of losses over the past five years, the government couldn’t pretend everything was hunky dory any longer.
Earlier this year, the Trudeau Liberals bailed out Canada Post to the tune of $1 billion, a tacit recognition that all was not well at the Crown corporation.
Just 10 months later, Canada Post now says it will have burned through all that cash by the end of the year.
Canada Post also says it lost more than half a billion dollars in the third quarter of this year, meaning losses for 2025 will amount to well north of $1.5 billion.
Canada Post itself admitted the situation is dire. In a release, it stated: “The company is facing the most severe and challenging financial situation in its history.”
No kidding.
And taxpayers will be on the hook for billions more in bailouts unless the government acts fast.
Thankfully, Carney’s government appears to see the situation at Canada Post as much more of a problem than the Justin Trudeau government did.
Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound said earlier this fall that “Canada Post is now facing an existential crisis,” pointing out the Crown corporation has lost more than $5 billion since 2018.
Lightbound pitched solutions to try to stem some of Canada Post’s losses, foremost among them converting all Canadians to communal mailboxes, saving an estimated $400 million per year. Other ideas include sending more mail via ground shipping and closing some formerly rural post offices.
If Canada Post is losing more than $400 million per quarter, Lightbound’s ideas are nothing more than bandage solutions that will lessen the Crown corporation’s losses, but bring it nowhere close to solvency.
Canada Post’s current infrastructure and staffing were built to deliver 5.5 million letters a year. But in recent years, Canada Post has delivered less than half of that, to say nothing of further drops in 2025 in the wake of labour strife.
Small fixes and adjusting around the margins aren’t the answer.
To rescue taxpayers from billions of dollars of bailouts that are inevitable unless the government acts decisively, Carney needs to urgently look at privatizing Canada Post.
Countries all over Europe have gone the privatization route and haven’t looked back.
Deutsche Post in Germany is a great example. Often rated in studies as the world’s best postal service, the organization was privatized back in 1995. Studies consistently show it outperforms Canada Post and other government-run postal services. And, unlike Canada Post, Deutsche Post consistently posts healthy profits.
Privatization is a dirty word for many, but it shouldn’t be. Canada Post is being run into the ground as a Crown corporation and taxpayers are being taken along for the ride. Privatization would shield taxpayers from losses and offer a pathway back toward better quality of services for consumers. Ending the public monopoly means labour strife would never again grind to a halt the services that consumers and businesses rely on.
Canada Post cannot continue to go down the path it’s on without massive bailouts that taxpayers simply cannot afford. And the Carney government’s proposed solutions, while sensible, can’t fix a problem that’s grown so large that it cannot be remedied by sensible tinkering around the edges alone.
Anything short of full privatization will fail consumers and taxpayers. It’s time to embrace a path forward that means a higher quality of service and protection for taxpayers. It’s time to end Canada Post as we know it.