Canada Post expects to lose 30,000 employees by 2035

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OTTAWA — With Canada Post facing heavy losses, the Crown Corp. CEO said Tuesday the company expects to lose up to 30,000 employees to retirement or voluntary departure over the next decade as it tries to get costs under control.

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“In the future, we will need to become a leaner organization and align our operations with the current needs of the country and our financial realities,” Doug Ettinger said at Canada Post's annual meeting.

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“It will require some changes, but we can do it in a way that minimizes the impact on our people.”

He said the company would use a “reduction first” approach to reduce its workforce from the roughly 62,000 people it hired at the end of last year.

The company expects to cut 16,000 employees through retirement or voluntary departure by 2030, with another 14,000 leaving by 2035.

Ettinger did not say whether additional layoffs would be needed to meet financial goals in the coming years. Canada Post did experience a wave of management layoffs earlier this year.

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“We will need a strong workforce in the future and we will continue to provide good jobs with good benefits. But the reality is that with so much new competition in the package delivery industry and a decline in mail, we are clearly overstaffed,” Ettinger said.

The talk of postal service cuts follows the emergence of new figures showing the extent of Canada Post's financial decline.

Chief Financial Officer Rindal El-Hage said earlier in the meeting that the corporation was “virtually insolvent” and losses for the first nine months of the year topped $1 billion, $239 million more than the loss recorded for the same period in 2024.

She said the company recorded an “unprecedented” pre-tax loss of $541 million in the third quarter alone, breaking the previous record for the largest quarterly loss in Canada Post history, which was set in the second quarter of this year.

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Between 2018 and 2024, Canada Post accumulated pre-tax losses of $3.8 billion. El-Hage said the company expects its biggest annual loss in 2025.

Ettinger said Tuesday that Canada Post's business model is deteriorating, with fewer letters being sent every year. Intense competition for parcel delivery and disruption from an ongoing labor dispute with Crown's largest union are also pushing the company into the red.

In January, the federal government opened a $1.034 billion repayable loan facility to Canada Post that will be used as needed throughout the year to maintain solvency and support its operations.

El-Hage said Tuesday that the company used $755 million of that credit in the third quarter of the year alone, plus an additional $200 million taken in outside that quarter.

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“Unfortunately, the reality today is that when Canada Post loses money, taxpayers foot the bill,” Ettinger said.

“Not only is it unsustainable, it is unnecessary and frankly it is unacceptable.”

Ettinger said relying on the federal government to provide continuity of life support is not a feasible strategy, and changes made to the Postal Service's mandate in September will help the company adapt its operations to the modern realities of mail delivery.

Procurement Minister Joel Lightbound unveiled a package of changes in September aimed at helping Canada Post transform its business model. They include allowing the Crown corporation to adjust mail delivery standards, close some rural post offices and expand public mailbox service to more addresses.

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Earlier this month, Canada Post submitted a plan to the federal government to take advantage of the changes, but details of the proposal will not be made public while Ottawa reviews it.

Ettinger on Tuesday sought to reassure Canadians who are concerned about what changes to their postal service might look like.

He acknowledged that changing mail delivery standards from two to four days to three to seven days could mean slower delivery. But that doesn't mean the Postal Service will take days off from deliveries, he added, and the restructuring could help the company save money by shipping by ground rather than by air.

Ettinger said Canada Post will not apply a “one size fits all” approach when deciding which communities may be impacted at its local post office. He said the company will be expanding its hosting program for those who have trouble accessing public mailboxes.

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A measure in the recently passed federal budget allowing Canada Post to set its own postal rates, rather than asking Ottawa to approve them, will also help the post office respond more quickly to changing market dynamics, Ettinger said.

“These changes will not happen overnight, but it is important that we act with urgency and take the time to get it right,” he said.

The Canadian Postal Workers Union, which represents about 55,000 letter carriers at Canada Post, remains on strike as the bargaining saga passes the two-year mark and heads into the busy holiday season.

The two sides have been back to the negotiating table with the help of a federal mediator since late October.

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