As the federal government tries to figure out what to do with Canada Post, one employee of the mail delivery service says it’s time to listen to the front-line workers.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu hosted an open discussion over the weekend as part of the Government of Canada’s public consultations for Canada Post Services.
Dozens of concerned citizens voiced their opinions to Hajdu Saturday morning at the Thunder Bay Public Library in regard to the future of Canada Post.
Wendy Johnson, who has been a Canada Post employee for nearly three decades, was among those attending the town hall.
“Canada Post is a huge network,” Johnson said. “We want to keep it going that’s what the employees want, we want to expand the services, and continue with what we are doing.”
Johnson added that she doesn’t feel as though their voices are being heard, but she would like to see some postal banking.
“We did try something locally, there was an initiative and we know postal banking can work,” she said.
“We have lots of communities that don’t have banks, locally, even in Current River they’re no longer going to have a bank so even in our own community.”
Johnson said there are post offices everywhere and they should be utilize them and keep people working.
The postal worker isn’t just focusing on postal banking, she’s in favour of keeping door-to-door delivery and Canada Post’s green initiatives.
“We can deliver,” Johnson said. “Let us, that’s what we do. If you want to deliver us to deliver a fridge gives me the means to do it and we can get there.”
Johnson said she hopes Canada Post listens to the Canadians, she wants the company to make the right changes to the services.
After an hour of discussion Hajdu said the citizens just want to make sure Canada Post evolves with the time, and offers add on services.
“We heard the idea of additional banking services, using Canada Post as green stations – we heard about the need to consider different populations,” Hajdu said.
“Making sure that those people have a way to get their mail in a way that keeps them safe and that addresses the barriers that they might have.”
Hajdu said moving forward the government needs to make sure citizen’s needs are met in a timely way.
