OttawaThe mayor of McNab/Braeside says 60 per cent of her rural community, which largely consists of older farmers, still relies on home delivery and worries the elderly will particularly impacted by an end to home delivery.Elderly residents in rural communities rely on home delivery, says oneNathan Fung · CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoOn Thursday, the federal government announced it wants Canada Post to end door-to-door delivery in an attempt to modernize the Crown corporation and tackle its struggling finances. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)For Lori Hoddinott, the mayor of McNab/Braeside, the possibility of Canada Post ending front-door delivery has her upset both as the mayor of a rural community and as a taxpayer.”We’ve given Canada Post so much money out of our tax dollars to keep afloat. And it’s like, ‘Here’s money. Oh, by the way, we’re going to substantially reduce service.’ Can I have some money back?” she said.Hoddinott’s comments come after the federal government announced it is, amid other changes, authorizing Canada Post to end home delivery and convert the remaining four million addresses that still receive it to community mailboxes.The move comes as it tries to stabilize the Crown corporation’s finances. It is set to lose $1.5 billion this year.The union representing Canada’s postal workers then suddenly called for a nationwide strike. Hoddinott said 60 per cent of her rural community just west of Ottawa, which largely consists of older farmers, still relies on home delivery and worries the elderly will particularly impacted by an end to home delivery.”If it’s on the senior to get down the laneway and go 15 kilometres up rural winter road to get to the mail, they’re not going to do it every day,” she said. “They could end up needing something and not getting it in the same fashion they would have … had it been to their mailbox.”End of moratorium worries othersAnother change announced on Thursday was that the federal government is lifting the 1994 moratorium on closing rural post offices that covers nearly 4,000 locations — many of which the government said were once rural and have since become suburban or urban. A government official said in a background briefing Thursday lifting that moratorium is intended to reduce the number of locations in over-served areas, while maintaining rural, remote and Indigenous post offices in areas where needed.That still worries Nancy Peckford, the mayor of North Grenville. She said the Kemptville standalone post office is a hub for the community of 20,000 people south of Ottawa.Peckford said she’s worried it could be shut down as a cost-saving measure.”It serves many thousands of households and it would be highly disruptive,” she said.North Grenville Mayor Nancy Peckford in a 2024 file photo. She said she is ‘deeply concerned’ about the possibility of its post offices closing. (Matthew Kupfer/CBC)Other rural mayors are more sympathetic to Canada Post’s need to modernize. Arie Hoogenboom, mayor of Rideau Lakes, said people in his community who get service at their mailbox are likely to be disappointed by the change.He said he understands why it is being done, given the corporation’s financial troubles.”The existing combination [of services] works in rural Ontario, but doesn’t necessarily work for Canada Post in terms of being cost effective,” he said.ABOUT THE AUTHORNathan Fung is a reporter with CBC Ottawa, with a strong interest in covering municipal issues. He has previously worked as a reporter in Hamilton and Edmonton. You can reach him at nathan.fung@cbc.caWith files from Campbell MacDiarmid
Rural mayors worry Canada Post changes could hurt
