Michael Taube: How Canada Post Could Be Saved by a 19th-Century American Philosopher’s Privatization Model

Commentary Is this the beginning of the end for Canada Post? I’m far from the first columnist to have ever suggested something like this. The fate of this Crown corporation, founded on July 1, 1867, as Royal Mail Canada, has been the subject of debate for years. Its faint pulse has nearly flatlined on a few occasions, too. Nevertheless, to borrow a line from the brilliant investor Sir John Templeton, “This time is different.” Canada Post has turned into a financial sinkhole. On May 3, it reported an enormous loss of $748 million (before tax) in 2023. Its accompanying news release outlined several factors, including being “negatively impacted by the post-pandemic surge in parcel delivery competition, the ongoing erosion of Transaction Mail, and continued growth in addresses and delivery costs.”...