The federal government approved a $1.01 billion repayable loan to Canada Post on February 5, marking the second major bailout in just over a year as the Crown corporation loses an estimated $10 million daily.
The emergency financing comes on top of $1.03 billion Ottawa provided in January 2025, bringing total federal support to more than $2 billion since the start of last year. Officials describe the new loan as a short-term bridge to keep postal services operating while Canada Post implements sweeping reforms.
“While Canada Post’s legislated mandate requires it to be financially self-sustaining, the corporation has accumulated significant losses in recent years, making clear that maintaining the status quo is not an option,” Public Services and Procurement Canada said in a statement Thursday.
Canada Post has accumulated more than $5 billion in losses since 2018. The corporation lost over $1 billion in 2024 alone and projects losses approaching $1.5 billion for 2025. Before 2018, Canada Post regularly posted operating surpluses, including a $194 million profit in 2014.
Bitter labor disputes throughout 2024 and 2025 deepened the financial crisis. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, representing approximately 55,000 employees, launched a nationwide strike in November 2024 over wages and job security. Then-Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon intervened in December 2024, ordering workers back after the month-long stoppage left 10 million packages undelivered.
Tensions flared again in September 2025 when Minister of Government Transformation Joël Lightbound announced major reforms, including ending home delivery for four million addresses. The union immediately launched another strike, later transitioning to rotating strikes in October 2025.
Related: Strike Averted As Canada Post, Union Workers Lock Five-Year Agreement
The government’s transformation plan projects $400 million in annual savings by converting door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes over nine years. Additional measures include closing some rural post offices and relaxing letter-mail delivery standards.
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