Airdrie Politics

As rounds are fired off at our troops in Afghanistan, Canadians as usual are outraged at more urgent emergencies. Namely the labour dispute between a gluttonous postal workers union and an increasingly authoritarian federal government. With the innovations of electronic billing, facebook, skype, and of course basic email – it has been hard to notice even the lack of junk mail filling my usually stuffed mailbox.
Despite its staggering insignificance the strike deserves some small commentary. On Monday, there’s the possibility Conservatives will impose “back to work” legislation contrary to our inalienable right of free association and peaceful assembly. This of course would be unnecessary if Stephen Harper did a very simple thing: privatize Canada Post and open all classes of mail to competition. Oh, how CUPW would squeal at the prospect of not being able to leach off of the captive taxpayer in perpetuity. But they shouldn’t worry. Such a move would be simply too gutsy for the Tories to pull off.
Yet if the Conservatives are gung-ho enough to effectively abolish collective bargaining, why stop there? Why not just abolish Canada Post? It would be an de facto privatization, without actually being called a privatization. Surely the Tory hard core would be even happier with the abolition of the anachronistic CP than they would be at the Tories’ ultimately inconsequential tough talk about ordering posties back to work.
“Oh but the unemployment!” cries the union. But all Canadians need ask themselves is this: did the economy suffer from the firing of horse and buggy drivers?
Most Canadians already grasp a cold hard fact: Physical mail delivery is a sunset industry. As much as there will always be a demand for the delivery of large physical goods, the bulk of mail – paper, will be replaced over the internet. Even so-called junk mail — hard copy direct marketing pieces — can be delivered more economically by private flyer companies.
The idea that the benefits and pay of Canada Post workers are somehow sacrosanct regardless of technological change needs to be returned to sender, along with the insane idea that mail delivery should be a government-run monopoly. The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can return our focus to more pressing issues.

Ross Mann, Alberta Liberty Caucus