(TLN)
Laval mayor Marc Demers has repeated his position to a federal panel of commissioners regarding the necessity to maintain door-to-door mail delivery in the city’s older neighbourhoods.
“A number of our residents have no problem with the community postal delivery boxes in neighbourhoods where recent changes took place,” Demers said in a statement.
Older neighbourhoods
“The way things are done has become clear for some. But this is not the case in our older neighbourhoods which are more densely populated and largely inhabited by older people or persons with reduced mobility who are losing an essential service without anything to replace it.”
Therefore the mayor is asking Canada Post to withdraw all community mail boxes from Laval’s older neighbourhoods. “In the most recent neighbourhoods, we want Canada Post to systematically review each of its community postal box installations in conjunction with our staff in order to assure us that they fully respond to the criteria of security and fluidity of traffic. In cases where the situation might be problematic, these boxes must be reinstalled elsewhere.”
Seeks cooperative approach
Demers said that in all new neighbourhoods of Laval, the installation of community mailboxes will have to be validated through a consultation process in conjunction with municipal services so that the boxes respect Laval’s municipal regulations. “It is our wish that Canada Post takes care of these community mailboxes as a good corporate citizen, concerned about the environment, while integrating recycling bins for paper in these installations.”
Demers also took a moment to criticize the past behaviour of Canada Post. “We were confronted by a unilateral decision by Canada Post to abandon home delivery,” he told the commissioners. “From the moment the decision was implemented, the City of Laval was up against an absence of listening and cooperation. But in October 2014, a resolution by the municipal council attested to our desire to cooperate with Canada Post.”
Canada Post criticized
According to the mayor, a negotiated solution would have allowed planning for better installations that would have answered to the corporate goals of Canada Post as well as of the citizens. Apart from that, he said it would also have avoided security problems while reducing the anxiety of handicapped or older residents living in some of Laval’s older neighbourhoods.
“The decision by Canada Post gave way to chaotic implementation of the community mail boxes,” added Demers. “We would have wished to deal with an intervener that was more conciliatory, more humane in its way of meeting objectives.” He said he respected Canada Post’s goal of efficiency and viability in the context that it took into account “respect for our most vulnerable citizens.”
