Canada is in the midst of a postal standoff that’s sending ripples through communities, businesses, and households nationwide. On Thursday evening, September 25, 2025, Canada Post workers walked off the job, launching a nationwide strike in response to sweeping reforms announced by the federal government. The strike marks the second major walkout since December 2024, and with no end in sight, the disruption is being felt in mailrooms, storefronts, and living rooms from coast to coast.
The spark for this latest labor action was Ottawa’s directive to Canada Post: end home delivery, shutter some rural mail outlets, and devise a plan to stem mounting losses. According to CBC, the Crown corporation is projected to lose a staggering $1.5 billion in 2025, hemorrhaging an estimated $10 million every day. The government’s modernization plan, unveiled on September 25, is intended to stabilize the national mail carrier’s finances and ensure its survival. But for many, the medicine feels worse than the disease.
“We’ve been told it’s now time to get back away from the taxpayer subsidies and make the changes,” said Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post, during an interview on Rosemary Barton Live. Hamilton emphasized that the reforms weren’t about gaining leverage over the union, but about responding to financial realities. “I wouldn’t argue that it’s given us any leverage,” he insisted. With the government’s 45-day deadline to submit a cost-savings plan ticking, Canada Post is now reassessing its offer to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and will present a revised version to employees soon.
The crux of the government’s plan is a gradual transition from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes—a process Public Works Minister Joël Lightbound estimates could take close to a decade, though some Canadians may see changes much sooner. In addition, the reforms would convert 4 million addresses to community mailboxes, end the rural moratorium on post office closures, give Canada Post more flexibility in delivery standards (including reducing the requirement to deliver five days a week), and allow more frequent stamp rate increases. The government points to the dramatic decline in letter mail—down from 5.5 billion letters annually twenty years ago to just 2 billion today—and the shrinking parcel market share, which has plummeted from 62% in 2019 to below 24% currently, as evidence that change is overdue.
But CUPW isn’t buying it. Union negotiator Jim Gallant accused both Canada Post management and the federal government of orchestrating the reforms behind closed doors. “Canada Post came with these suggestions,” Gallant told CBC. “We’ve been negotiating on and off for the best of two years, and those are the things that Canada Post wanted.” Asked whether he believed Ottawa was simply taking orders from the corporation, Gallant didn’t mince words: “I am saying that.” He called on Canadians to take a more active role in deciding the future of their postal service, adding, “Canadians should decide what Canada Post is and how it goes through the future.”
Gallant also rejected the notion that Canada Post is insolvent, pushing back on claims made by both the company and government officials. “There’s no such thing,” he argued. “Are the RCMP insolvent? Are the Armed Forces insolvent? It’s not the truth. Government can’t be insolvent.” He noted that, while Canada Post is mandated to be financially self-sustaining under the Canada Post Corporation Act, the government lent it $1 billion earlier this year to address recent financial constraints. “The money has to be where the mouth is, and the government should support Canada Post,” Gallant said. “We should end up with a postal service that serves Canadians.”
The reforms and the strike have left small towns and rural communities especially vulnerable. Nancy Peckford, mayor of North Grenville, Ontario, expressed her support for the strike but warned of the consequences if local post offices are shuttered. Her community of about 20,000 people relies heavily on Canada Post, not just for mail but as a social and economic hub. “If North Grenville’s post office is shut down as part of the reforms, it would be a devastating development,” Peckford told CBC. “It would be very sad and quite disruptive to see the disappearance of our local post office.” She urged Canada Post to engage more strategically with municipalities, so that local perspectives aren’t lost in the shuffle of national reforms.
For small businesses, the strike is another acute blow in a year already marked by turbulence. As reported by CHCH News, entrepreneurs like Mason Drake and Crystal Stankovic in Hamilton have been forced to overhaul their operations. “Right now, with the strike earlier this year and then this one, it stops Canadian business,” said Drake. “And then the tariffs completely stop international business. So it affects me majorly because I have to shift the way I sell completely—like a full 180.” With Canada Post’s affordable shipping rates off the table, many small businesses are scrambling to find alternatives, weighing their own packages and printing their own labels through companies like Stallion or DHL. “It’s rough. There’s Stallion, it’s different—you weigh your own package and then you print your own [label]. And there’s DHL. So I’m just looking into those right now,” Stankovic explained.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, acknowledged the pain but pointed to a possible silver lining. “Short term, this is gonna cause a great deal of pressure, including to small business owners … in the long term, though, this will make everybody, including Canada Post workers, better off,” he told CHCH News. Still, the immediate fallout is hard to ignore. After the last strike, which lasted 32 days during the busy holiday season, many businesses began exploring new ways to reach their customers, with some now limited to in-person sales to make ends meet.
Online sellers and international shippers are also feeling the pinch. According to eCommerceBytes, eBay has extended estimated delivery dates for buyers and implemented enhanced protections for sellers in the event of item-not-received claims. The company is also protecting seller accounts from defects caused by the disruption. But with millions of packages—including vital medications—frozen in the system, many Canadians are frustrated by the lack of notice and the uncertainty about when normal service might resume.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has called Ottawa’s reforms a “slapdash approach without full public consultation.” The union says the cuts undermine public service and disproportionately hurt rural Canadians, who face the prospect of post office closures and reduced delivery standards. According to CTV News, businesses nationwide are facing ongoing challenges as the strike drags on, with no clear resolution in sight.
As both sides dig in, the battle over Canada Post’s future has become a flashpoint for broader debates about public services, government accountability, and the changing face of communication in a digital age. For now, Canadians are left waiting—sometimes literally at their mailbox—to see what comes next.