The issue of community mailboxes has some residents thinking twice about who they will vote for in the upcoming federal election.
Some say the loss of door-to-door delivery will be enough to keep the Conservatives out of office.
“There are a lot of seniors and that is going to make it very difficult for them to get to these mailboxes,” says one voter.
“It's just a hard thing. People are going to lose jobs, too, you know. So that makes a big difference also,” another says.
A sit-in protest in east London is one of a number that have sprouted up around proposed community box locations.
Those involved say someone's at the site 24-7.
“I have spoken with people on doorsteps who have volunteered, that they usually vote Conservative and based on this single issue they are not going to be voting Conservative,” says Patti Dalton of the London District Labour Council.
But the PCs say it’s a non-issue. Conservative MP Susan Truppe says not only is Canada Post restructuring not an election issue, it's not even a government issue.
“Well it's not our issue it's a Canada Post issue. We don’t have anything to do with that issue. It's a Crown corporation and their mandate is to be financially, fiscally responsible with their funding. As you know, they've lost funding for quite a few years.”
According to NDP MP Irene Mathyssen the implementation date for the first phase of community mailboxes is Oct. 19. That's the day of the election. Is it a coincidence? She doesn't believe so.
“I think that there's method in that,” she says.
Mathyssen says her party would restore Canada Post service levels.
“We will roll this back and tell Canada Post that they have to go back to the drawing board with their five-point plan….”
London West Liberal candidate Kate Young says the Harper government has dropped the ball on Canada Post restructuring.
She says the PCs will pay for that at the polls.
