And this just in on this busy last day of the Parliamentary calendar: Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon has just ordered Canada Post to restore rural roadside mail delivery within 18 months. Sounds like a nice little move that’s bound to boost support in the Conservative heartland — particularly if those carriers are delivering those $100–a-month—per-kid Conservative childcare cheques!
Canada Post spokesman John Caines says there are 800,000 rural mailboxes in the country and just about each one is different from the point-of-view of the safety of the delivery person. “That’s going to be a big, big project,” Caines said.
Cannon also ordered Canada Post to continue the Publications Assistance Program for two more years. That’s a program that gives publishers of magazines like Maclean’s, Chatelaine and other Canadian titles a break on the postage when they mail issues out to subscribers. Canada Post says this program costs $15–million a year. At this point, Canada Post will be expected to absorb the cost of that program but Caines said there are some initial discussions with the federal government to have the federal treasury kick in a bit to support the program.