MPs to debate idea of Canada Post providing financial services

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Postal workers are upping the pressure on Members of Parliament to consider adding banking as a service provided by Canada Post.

While MPs are set to debate a motion to study the idea Friday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers are promoting banking as a way to increase revenue at the Crown corporation.

The union says it recognizes that many small towns and indigenous communities are without banks, and that’s where the post office comes in.


“We do have communities across the country that are under served or not served at all by banks. And because there are post offices in those communities, it’s another service we can provide,” says CUP-W Local 846 President Jennifer Savage.

Canada Post has more outlets than Tim Hortons and could deliver banking services cheaper than regular banks because it won’t need to generate a profit, according to the CUP-W.

Savage sees the post office as a potential competitor for pay-day lenders.

“They charge interest rates up to 400 per cent. We would like people to hang onto more of their money, and not taken advantage of by what can be likened to a loan shark.”

She envisions the post office not only providing pay day loans, but also lines of credit, credit cards and overdraft protection.

Canada Post had banking services until 1968, when it was edged out by the banking lobby, but postal banks exist in many countries, such as the UK, France, New Zealand and Japan.