Christmas Card

I mailed some Christmas cards yesterday. There were only five of them (sister, brother daughter, son and one close friend out west). I can remember my parents spending their evenings doing their Christmas cards- going through the list making sure that they had not forgotten anyone who had sent them a card, adding notes to the people who they were close to or had not seen for awhile. The cards were away of staying in touch with people - some of whom my parents had not seen in years. And of course I remember getting all of the cards in the mail and how exciting it was when I got a card addressed to me. My parents didn’t have a lot of money but they sold Regal Cards and I suspect that their sales paid for the ones they mailed out. I don’t want to exaggerate but I am sure that they mailed out well over a hundred, perhaps even two hundred Christmas cards every year

This year I mailed five. The stamps were left over from last year and the cards were free. Some charitable organization had sent me 8-9 cards along with a pen, some Christmas seals and some return address labels. There were nice cards with nice envelopes. They expected me to send them some money to support their worthwhile cause. I didn’t ask for the cards and I didn’t send them any money. In fact I never donate money to charities that send me stuff on the hope that I will send them money. I felt a bit guilty about using their cards without donating some money but I would have felt worse if I just thrown the cards away. I will donate money to another charity while thinking about them.

It may be the last year that I send Christmas cards. If Canada Post goes through with their plans to both increase the cost of stamps and to do away with house delivery, it will be too expensive to mail stuff out and everyone that I send a card to will have to walk somewhere to get their mail. I don’t think any of them care enough.

The failure of Canada Post to both make money and to provide a needed service is a classic example of Neo-liberalism. First one deregulates and de-funds a service that has traditionally been seen as a public service; when that service can no longer function and falls apart the government says “see… it wasn’t a very good service anyway and the private sector can do it better”.

It is interesting to note that the Conservatives, when they stop running from shame, will probably say that Canada Post is run as separate entity from the government and that its board is responsible for the necessary business decisions it makes. In the past the government has argued that a national postal service is a necessary service (which is why the government legislated workers back to work in 2011). Today I guess it is not a necessary service. And that saddens me.

Canada is a complicated country for numerous reason but the over riding issue that defines virtual all of its problems is its size. Politicians in the past have recognized that for the country to remain strong it needs to have national institutions that make it easy for Canadians to feel connected to each other. The national railroad, the CBC and Canada Post are three such institutions that have allowed us to stay in touch. There is no more national railroad, the CBC continues to be gutted every budget and now the postal service is on the way out. 

Do you ever get the feeling that someone would prefer if we didn't stay connected?