To the editor:
What do world class cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and dozens of municipalities across the country know that our Kelowna city council does not?
CUPW has approached city council on two occasions seeking permission to address council in regards to recent Canada Post service cuts. This has been done with the hope that local politicians will pass a resolution asking Canada Post to delay implementation of their plan to eliminate door-to-door service until such time as proper consultations are done, consultations required by the Canadian Postal Charter, with the citizens of this city.
Before Canada Post announced the service cuts, they consulted just 40 communities across the country, and these consultations were conducted by invitation only, a blatant violation of the postal charter, ensuring a stacked deck.
When local council was approached their response was that it was none of council’s business, it was a federal issue, and they did not have the time to hear the people of Kelowna’s concerns regarding these cuts.
These service cuts will affect virtually every citizen living in the valley. Whether it be the loss of decent paying jobs, the impact on direct mail advertisers and local small businesses, increased hardship for the elderly and disabled, these changes will result in tens of millions of dollars being removed from the local economy—directly and indirectly.
Again I ask: What do literally dozens of municipalities across the country know that (Mayor) Walter Gray and company do not? Is it the fact that it is their job to represent all the citizens of Kelowna who will be impacted by these cuts?
An internal Canada Post study was released to CUPW. This report, with 700 of the 800-odd pages blacked out, clearly showed that Canada Post recognized these cuts to be unnecessary, that there were better alternatives available to prevent the loss of services across this country. Unfortunately, political considerations led to this report being suppressed until now.
I would suggest to the mayor that there will be plenty of time to approve office towers on our lake shore land later. In the meantime, I would ask council to listen to the citizens of Kelowna, something they were elected to do, and allow CUPW to present to council. The council of Kelowna might just be surprised by what they hear and maybe, just maybe, they will be taking baby steps to allowing Kelowna to become a world class jurisdiction themselves.
David Klappe,
grievance officer,
Kelowna Local 760
