Why Small Businesses Need Canada Post to Work

Private courier oligopolies aren’t the answer to Canada’s postal service challenges – investment and modernization are.

When Province of Canada switched away from Canada Post after 11 years this holiday season, it wasn’t because they found a better option. It was because they couldn’t risk another disruption during their busiest period.

That’s the reality facing small businesses across Canada right now: not choosing better service, but protecting themselves from instability in an essential piece of infrastructure.

Canada Post Is Small Business Infrastructure

Canada Post delivers to every address in Canada at the same rate. No premium for rural areas. No zones. No corporate volume discounts required.

A business in Timmins competes nationally on the same terms as a business in Toronto. That’s not something private carriers offer – and it’s not something the market would provide on its own.

Private couriers charge premiums for remote delivery. They don’t serve certain areas at all. And without Canada Post keeping them honest on pricing, courier costs would be significantly worse for every small business in Canada.

This matters because shipping costs directly affect a business’s ability to reinvest in employees and innovation. When costs go up, something has to give – and it’s usually wages, benefits, or growth plans.

What Happens When Essential Services Consolidate

The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project and Canadian SHIELD Institute have documented what happens when essential services privatize and consolidate into oligopolies.

In “The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians,” researchers found that concentrated markets lead to higher prices, reduced service quality, and fewer choices for consumers and businesses.

Private couriers charge premiums for remote delivery. They don’t serve certain areas at all. And without Canada Post keeping them honest on pricing, courier costs would be significantly worse for every small business in Canada. The UK privatized Royal Mail in 2013 – before privatization, Royal Mail was meeting its delivery targets. By 2024, performance had collapsed: only 75% of first-class mail arrived on time (target: 93%). Meanwhile, stamp prices more than doubled. Just over a decade after privatization, Royal Mail was sold to a Czech billionaire for £3.6 billion – the first time the 500-year-old institution passed into foreign ownership. Privatization doesn’t just risk service quality – it opens the door to foreign control of essential infrastructure. At a moment when the US government is threatening trade wars and military action against Canada, surrendering control of our postal system would be reckless.

We’ve seen this pattern play out in telecommunications, where Canada has some of the highest mobile and internet prices in the developed world. We’ve seen it in grocery, where three companies control the majority of the market. We’ve seen it in banking, airlines, and media.

The solution to Canada Post’s challenges isn’t to replicate that model in postal services. Chronic underfunding and failure to modernize created a situation where neither postal workers nor businesses get what they need.

Workers deserve good jobs with fair wages and safe working conditions. Businesses need reliable, affordable service they can count on. Communities need universal access to postal services.

All three require the same thing: investment in Canada Post as public infrastructure, not abandonment to private alternatives.

The Path Forward

Small businesses aren’t asking for the status quo. We’re asking for modernization, long-term funding, and stability.

We need Canada Post to work – not because we’re sentimentally attached to a Crown corporation, but because privatization leads to worse outcomes. Private couriers won’t serve remote areas affordably. They won’t keep prices low for small-volume shippers. They won’t provide the universal service that makes national competition possible for businesses outside major urban centers.

Canada’s government has an opportunity to modernize this asset to benefit businesses, consumers, and Canada’s sovereignty.

As the UK learned, privatization doesn’t stop at service degradation and price increases – it opens the door to foreign control of essential infrastructure. At a time when the US government is openly threatening Canada’s sovereignty, maintaining public ownership of our postal system isn’t nostalgia – it’s national security.

A strong Canadian entrepreneurial class depends on institutions that work for everyone – workers, businesses, and communities – and that remain under Canadian control.

That’s what investment in Canada Post can deliver. Privatization can’t.

Related Reading:

• Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
• Canadian SHIELD Institute
• The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians
• We need to talk about Canada’s painful lack of competition – Vass Bednar
• “Canadian retailer drops Canada Post as its carrier ahead of holiday season” – CTV News