THUNDER BAY -- Thunder Bay-Rainy River Conservative Party candidate Moe Comuzzi stands behind her party’s decision to save Canada Post $500 million by ending door-to-door mail delivery.
“Conservatives feel taxpayers shouldn’t be bearing the brunt of a deficit and we want to keep our taxes low and create jobs and right now most of the residents are very receptive,” she said.
Every other candidate in the riding is promising to restore the service if their party is elected.
Liberal candidate Don Rusnak has personal experience with the way life can throw hard punches and it made him see the necessity in having Canada Post bring mail right to the door.
“My dad went through a battle with cancer. I can’t see him going out in the winter, trudging through snow and ice to get his mail, something that’s essential,” he said.
“It’s something that we pride ourselves on as Canadians. It is a public service.”
Christy Radbourne of the Green Party pointed out the rural and northern climate in the Thunder Bay-Rainy River Riding make mail delivery a necessity.”
“It makes really good sense particularly for our community,” she said.
“Seniors can’t be trudging through the snow. There’s security issues with it and we will support can post employees in returning door-to-door.”
A day doesn’t pass without about a dozen people approaching NDP incumbent John Rafferty, calling for door-to-door mail to be reinstated. Rafferty pointed out the crown corporation has only lost money in one year since the Conservatives first formed the largest party in Parliament back in 2006.
He believes the Conservative government is scaling Canada Post back to privatize the Crown corporation.
“I think Canadians understand that these things belong to us and we don’t want government selling these things off,” Rafferty said.
“Canada Post, for many people, is the government. This is what we’ve invested in. This is part of what we do. Home delivery, if it disappears, we’ll be the only G7 country that doesn’t have home delivery.”
