Canada Post became a crown corporation in 1981. It attempted a restructuring between 2010-2017 where the duties of letter carriers were combined with those of mail service couriers. It backfired. There was a strike, a lockout, and Harper’s government forced postal workers back to work with binding arbitration. CP lost $253 million in 2011. Canada Post’s woes really began with the Internet which has caused worldwide mail volumes to plummet.

The law that made CP a crown corporation also established its government enforced monopoly on letter mail while parcel delivery remained a free market. Since then, the market price of parcels has plummeted while the price of letters has only gone up. As Canada Post has always relied on parcels to supplement its income, the falling market price for parcels has made it non-competitive in that area (except when delivering to PO Boxes, which courier services can’t do).