By Jeff Labine

No movement from Liberals to restore door-to-door

Feb 6, 2017 | 5:00 AM

Eleanor George, 80, said she wants door-to-door mail delivery back in Prince Albert.

“I’m really concerned about mail delivery,” she said. “I am a handicapped person. I have had strokes and broken hips and all kinds of things. I have fallen twice this winter and I need my mail delivered back to my house.”

During the last federal election, the Liberals under Justin Trudeau promised to bring back door-to-door delivery after the service was cut by the former Conservative government. While some communities were able to maintain their door-to-door delivery services, others watched as communal mailboxes were installed.

Now in power as a majority government, the Liberals are currently reviewing how exactly they will follow through on their election promise. Canada Post, in an email to paNOW, said there is “no movement” on restoring door-to-door delivery.

George said she’s tired of waiting for the service to be brought back.

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“We’re always waiting for endless things,” George said. “Some of us [are] going to die before they get some of these things into action. I really think we need to smarten the government up.”

Just last week, Trudeau broke a key election promise to end first-past-the-post voting by 2019. The announcement follows a contentious review process, which saw the minister responsible for the file berate an all-party committee, then later apologize for her remarks. The government’s reasoning was there wasn’t a consensus on which voting system the country should adopt. The Liberals are not in favour of holding a referendum on the issue.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 810 vice-president Ben McCloy said he is concerned a decision on the matter hasn’t been reached yet. McCloy explained the transition from door-to-door to community mailboxes was challenging for some postal workers as it meant their routes doubled in size. Jobs were also cut during the change. McCloy said before the change there were roughly 45 postal workers in Prince Albert, but he believed that number has since dropped between 30 and 35.

Over time, mail deliverers have adapted to the new way of things, and McCloy mentioned there are fewer reported injuries now. McCloy also stressed many postal carriers miss the opportunity to interact with the community when going door-to-door.

“It was nice to get to know people on your route,” he said “It feels good to hear that what we do every day is appreciated because sometimes you feel like a robot going through your day. It’s nice to know people appreciate what you do.”

Since many of the postal workers in P.A. have experience with door-to-door delivery, McCloy said he doesn’t believe it would be much of a challenge to transition back.

Jeff.Labine@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @labinereporter