CFIB calls on federal government to intervene as Canada Post strike continues

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling on the federal government to intervene and get Canada Post employees back to work.

Brianna Solberg, director of provincial relations for the CFIB, said a letter has been sent to the federal government calling on it to get involved and end the Canada Post strike.

As the strike enters its second week, Solberg said it has truly begun to impact small and medium-sized businesses.

“This has already impacted their operations and they are already facing rising costs and a lot of economic uncertainty. So we’ve seen delays in shipments, businesses that can’t deliver to their customers, not to mention those that receive payments in the mail, they don’t get paid so they can’t pay taxes, they can’t pay their employees, which is leading up to the holiday season causes them enormous stress,” Solberg said.

She was hoping this situation would have been resolved by now, but since it hasn’t, she wants the feds to do what they recently did with the Vancouver and Montreal port strikes.

“When these things start to impact the overall economy, we may need government intervention.”

Solberg said a recent CFIB study found that 75 percent of their members would be affected by this strike, and that eight out of 10 businesses still rely on the postal system to receive payments, pay bills and send paychecks.

“I think a lot of businesses tried to switch to other carriers when they could, but it was expensive and in rural areas that’s often not an option. “In rural areas, they really rely on Canada Post, and so we’re just left with an uncertain future.”

Since the pandemic, several companies have moved online to try to compete with established companies such as Amazon, Solberg said.

Now, with so much uncertainty, she said many are asking Manitobans to continue to support local by visiting stores while the strike continues.

“I think the communication right now for businesses is: We’re trying our best, but if possible, we’d like you to come and shop in person. We are also happy to fulfill orders in this way. We look forward to seeing people continue to shop local.”