The first organized postal service in Canada started operating in 1867, when the Post Office Department to the Canadian Government was founded. In the late 1960s, the postal services in the country was re-branded Post. Canada Post Corporation - as the postal service of this vast country is known today – started its existence in October, 1981, when the Canada Post Corporation Act came into force. The corporation is headquartered in Ottawa and is led by Mrs. Moya Green, President and CEO, and Mr. Marc Courtois, Chairman of the Board. The company has 72,000 employees and a reliable network of 6,800 post offices in all provinces and territories of Canada.
It has been estimated that the devoted officials of Canada Post carry out as many as forty million door-to-door deliveries every business day. A restless army of fifteen thousand letter carriers backed by about six thousand public transport drivers toils around the clock to make sure that not a single letter, post card or parcel posted by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident will remain undelivered in a timely manner. The international postal services of Canada Post include delivery of light packets, small packets, expedited parcels to the United States, Xpresspost-USA and International to US and some other countries, international parcels to countries in which Xpresspost is not available, and priority worldwide to over 220 countries around the globe. For light packets, rates are based on destination and weight, while the maximum weight of small packets is 1 kg for the United States and 2 kg for the rest of the world.
In fact, mail delivery first began in the country back in 1693, with a Portuguese going by the name of Pedro da Silva was delivering mail between the city of Quebec and Montreal. Then, the British assumed control over the postal service in Canada and held the rein until 1851. Canada started running its own postal service in 1867, illustrating that the postal system has a long tradition in the country. One of the major tasks of the newly-established postal service was to facilitate the communication between the big cities and the country’s rural areas. Gradually, it grew to become the Canadian citizens’ gateway to the rest of the world. It should be mentioned that Canada’s post was one of the pioneers of airmail delivery, without which long-distance communication is unthinkable today. The first airmail flight in Canada was successfully carried out in June 1918 between Montreal and Toronto.
But skies haven’t always been bright over Canada’s postal service. For example, the 1970s challenged the postal corporation’s very existence with sweeping strikes and riots fueled by startling budget deficit and economic stagnation. In a bid to give the country’s postal service more autonomy and financial flexibility, the federal government voted the Canada Post Corporation Act of 1981, under which Canada Post was transferred into a crown corporation.
Finally, if you happen to visit the province of Ontario, do not miss the first post office in Toronto, which is still operational today.