Canada Post, CUPW, and the Urgent Need for Accountability
I’ve long believed that public sector unions—especially in essential services—should either be abolished or significantly restructured. That said, there is a democratic mechanism available to control their influence: the electoral process.
However, Canada Post, as a Crown Corporation, operates outside that mechanism. It is wholly owned by the federal government but functions independently of the democratic accountability that applies to elected institutions. This insulation from voter feedback makes many of CUPW’s (Canadian Union of Postal Workers) demands appear completely out of touch with the economic and social realities faced by most Canadians.
Consider the following quote often used to justify CUPW’s stance:
“Canada Post is not just a business. We may call it a Crown Corporation all we want, but at the end of the day, it is providing an essential service to Canadians. Just like with healthcare, as a service, it does not need to make money. It needs to exist to serve Canadians.”
While this comparison to healthcare may sound compelling, the key difference is that Canada Post frequently disrupts public life through strikes and operational inefficiencies—an issue healthcare systems generally do not provoke in the same way.
Public Sector Unions and Political Fallout
We’ve seen the consequences of unchecked public sector union influence before. In Ontario, the inability of the Liberals and NDP to effectively manage unions directly contributed to Doug Ford’s electoral dominance over the past three provincial elections.
Even with the collapse of the NDP provincially, the federal Liberals only narrowly outperformed the Conservatives in the last election. If Mark Carney doesn’t deliver results, the federal Liberals and NDP may find themselves in the same irrelevance as their Ontario counterparts.
The Public’s Bottom Line: Just Don’t Interfere
The average Canadian doesn’t care about the politics behind public sector unions—until those unions start interfering with their day-to-day lives. That’s where CUPW fails in the public relations battle.
Canada Post is frequently in the news for the wrong reasons. The CBC—another publicly funded institution—might also be unpopular with many Canadians, but at least it doesn’t stop them from paying their bills or receiving important mail.
So when politicians say “defund the CBC,” most Canadians are indifferent. But when CUPW disrupts postal service with aggressive public demands, it feels personal—like a recurring annoyance they can’t escape.
CUPW: Out of Touch and Overexposed
CUPW presents itself as a noble defender of the public interest. In reality, many Canadians just want them to stop asking for more. While the Conservatives tried to paint Mark Carney as a globalist bureaucrat, the truth is that most voters simply want less political noise.
Carney’s strategy was simple: say less, promise less, and don’t become a daily frustration for the public. And it worked. By contrast, CUPW appears in the media several times a year, demanding concessions like a persistent beggar knocking on the national doorstep.
Why USPS Doesn’t Strike—and Why Canada Post Should Follow
In the U.S., the United States Postal Service (USPS) is subject to electoral accountability. Any disruption in service becomes a national issue, and both Democrats and Republicans take notice. This pressure from voters discourages strikes and ensures USPS leadership is responsive to public demands.
Canada Post, on the other hand, exists in a political vacuum. Most Canadians don’t know why it operates the way it does, and politicians are terrified of taking a public stance. Whether you’re Trudeau, Harper, or now Carney, touching the Canada Post issue risks political fallout no matter what side you take.
Yet the writing is on the wall: Canada Post is drifting toward insolvency. Privatization isn’t viable due to the high cost of servicing rural Canada—costs that private businesses would only accept if subsidized. That leaves one alternative:
Bring CUPW Into the Election Cycle
The most democratic solution is to make CUPW and Canada Post part of the electoral process. If postal workers and their union want to assert that they speak for Canadians, let them be held accountable like every other public institution. Let their future be influenced by public feedback, not internal speculation about what Canadians “might” want.
Right now, CUPW operates without meaningful checks and balances. They build policies and demands based on theories rather than voter reality. But all signs suggest that what the average Canadian truly wants is for Canada Post to function quietly—and to stop disrupting their lives.