What’s In A Word?

Those of you who live in Canada will be aware that the employees of Canada Post – members of CUPW, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers –  are on strike, yet again. They have been negotiating with the Corporation over a new contract for what seems like eons, and this is the third strike they have called. The first one ended when the government passed so-called ‘back to work’ legislation, but that was temporary.

After more fruitless negotiating, they went back on strike again when the government directed the Corporation to make plans to stop door-to-door mail delivery for all households and to close some rural post offices. (We are told that about 1/3 of Canadian households still have delivery to their door, the other 2/3 have to walk to ‘community mailboxes’ to get their mail.)

The latest move by CUPW is to change to ‘rotating strikes’ which means that every now and then some mail shows up in my mailbox. This seemed a mad strategy to me, guaranteed to piss off the average Canadian even more than a full strike, until a hiking buddy of mine who used to work for Canada Post pointed out CUPW’s likely reason for the change in strategy-they are running out of money. That is, CUPW’s strike fund has likely been depleted, so going back to work a few days per week or month is a way to keep their members getting some amount of income.

Makes sense, I get it. Don’t like it, but I get it.

However, this post is really about something else.

Canada Post is a Crown Corporation, meaning it operates as an independent entity with some level of government oversight. It has a CEO, and it earns revenue by charging for delivery of both first-class mail (letters and such) and packages.

The CBC is a Crown Corporation also, with a CEO, and it earns revenue by selling advertising on (some but not all) its radio, TV and online programs.

Canada Post has a monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail, but competes with private companies in everything else it does.

The CBC competes with private entities in everything it does.

In a story on CBC.ca in April of this year, titled ‘Carney pledges $150Million boost to ‘underfunded’ CBC’ (the CBC put those quotes around underfunded, not me), CBC writes:

‘CBC received an estimated $1.38-billion in 2024-25.’

Then, in a story from May of last year, the CBC wrote:

 ‘Canada Post is reporting a $1.3-billion loss in operating expenses in its 2024 annual report.’

So, why is the $1.3B Canada Post needed from the government called a ‘loss’ and the $1.38B the government gave the CBC called ‘funding’?