Canada mulls privatized mail delivery

OTTAWA, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Tuesday was the final day for submissions to a Canadian panel in Ottawa looking into the possibility of privatizing mail service in the country.

Timed to the deadline, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers released a survey it commissioned that said 69 percent of the public oppose allowing private companies to deliver letters, a union news release said.

Currently, Canada Post, a Crown corporation and its more than 70,000 employees are responsible for mail delivery in the country. However, the government-appointed Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review panel is looking into the feasibility of deregulating the service.

The union's poll of 1,007 people this month 9 percent of respondents strongly support and 18 percent of people somewhat support allowing private sector competition.

Union President Denis Lemelin said deregulation was economically unsound.

"Postal deregulation would allow private companies to deliver mail in the lucrative urban areas while the public post office is left to service the higher-cost rural and isolated areas," he said. "This is a recipe for drastic service cuts, job loss and post office closures."

The panel will release its opinion and recommendations in December.