Churchill MP Niki Ashton is doing her job by standing firm against the forthcoming demise of home mail delivery in Flin Flon and across Canada.
If for no other reason, all Flin Flonners should support the continuation of the service on the grounds that it means more good-paying jobs for our community.
But if door-to-door delivery is as indispensable as Ashton states, then why is she not advocating on behalf of the 59,770 northern Manitobans who do not already receive the
service?
Only two communities in Ashton’s riding – Flin Flon and Thompson – enjoy home delivery courtesy of Canada Post. That’s 18,715 people out of 78,485, or just under a quarter of the overall population.
Though Ashton raises genuine concerns around mobility-challenged seniors (and others) being forced to make do without door-to-door delivery, her statements may ring somewhat hollow if she remains silent on the absence of the service in the vast majority of her riding.
Are seniors and the physically disabled in The Pas somehow less deserving of the service than those in Flin Flon? Are fears around access to mail in snowstorms less valid in Cranberry Portage than in Thompson?
By not advocating for universal home delivery, Ashton risks undercutting some of her own arguments. So does the national branch of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which last week announced it was launching a Federal Court challenge to try and salvage door-to-door service.
According to CBC, the court challenge will argue that cancellation of home delivery violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the federal Human Rights Act and even international law, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
So pulling door-to-door service from Flin Flon is an international crime, but refusing to enact it in The Pas is… what exactly?
Again, the effort to save home delivery deserves the support of Flin Flonners, a statement echoed by Mayor George Fontaine.
But the whole campaign is rather bizarre in that it seems to accept transgressions against a lucky few while ignoring the plight of the unlucky majority.
