MONTREAL, Sept. 22, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - At the Montreal Agglomeration Council meeting of 18 September 2014, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre and Peter F. Trent, mayor of Westmount and president of the Association of Suburban Municipalities (ASM), agreed to form a united front opposing the decision of Canada Post to install community mail boxes across the Island of Montreal in order to phase out door-to-door mail delivery service.
Canada Post first announced its decision to end home delivery when it released its "Five Point Action Plan – Ready for the Future" report in December 2013. Both Montreal and the suburban municipalities immediately expressed their concerns with this announcement, with many subsequently adopting resolutions demanding that home mail delivery be maintained.
Mayor Coderre has gone on record many times to express his displeasure with Canada Post's unilateral decision, as witnessed again at the Agglomeration Council meeting when he stated: "In densely populated areas such as the Plateau, there simply isn't space available to install community mailboxes to serve the hundreds of households on virtually every block. Citizens living in these areas should not be penalized by having to go and pick up their mail at some remote location. This is totally unacceptable."
Speaking on behalf of the ASM, Mayor Trent expressed similar concerns, "Canada Post refuses to have an open debate on the whole issue and look at other ways to rein in their costs. They are determined to ram through its 'one size fits all' community mailbox program knowing full well that it encourages vehicle use, it is unfair to seniors or those with restricted mobility, and will hardly add to the urban aesthetic".
Given these and the many other concerns that have been expressed by the mayors since Canada Post's announcement to phase out door-to-door mail delivery and progressively install community mailboxes, and Canada Post's reluctance to address these concerns, the Mayors of the Agglomeration member cities demand that Canada Post:
- put an immediate stop to its community mailbox installation program in the Montreal metropolitan region; and
- continue to provide full door-to-door mail delivery services until such time that an overall strategy is accepted by both the Agglomeration cities and Canada Post – a strategy that could foresee a reduction in the frequency of home mail delivery if necessary.
The Mayors also invite their colleagues across Quebec and Canada to follow suit in their respective cities.
SOURCE: Association of Suburban Municipalities
Peter F. Trent, Mayor, City of Westmount and President of the Association of Suburban Municipalities, 514 989-5240; Louis-Pascal Cyr, Directeur des communications, Cabinet du maire et du comité exécutif, Ville de Montréal, 514 207-5525
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