Losses worsened by strike impact as the postal service requires urgent changes to address its financial sustainability and serve the needs of a changing Canada

Canada Post recorded a loss before tax of $841 million in 2024 – the seventh consecutive annual loss for the Corporation.

The significant challenges Canada Post has confronted in recent years continued to mount in 2024 and were escalated by a 32-day national strike.

Key highlights from 2024 include:

• Canada Post’s operating loss for the year was nearly $1.3 billion. The loss from operations excludes non-recurring gains and dividend income from the Corporation’s divestitures of SCI Group Inc. and Innovapost Inc. in the first half of the year.

• Without the divestitures, Canada Post’s $841-million loss before tax for 2024 would have been significantly larger.

• Since 2018, Canada Post has lost more than $3.8 billion before taxes.

• Letter mail continued to decline and the company’s Parcels business remained under threat in a competitive delivery market.

• Outdated operating, regulatory and policy constraints continued to severely limit the company’s ability to adapt to the changing needs of the country.

• The company’s 2024 loss before tax widened by $93 million, or 12.4 per cent¹, compared to a $748-million loss before tax in 2023.

• Revenue for the year declined by $800 million, or 12.2 per cent, compared to 2023, falling across the Parcels, Transaction Mail and Direct Marketing lines of business.

The national strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in the fourth quarter had a significant impact on the lines of business in 2024, with the largest impact on the Parcels business.

The Corporation estimates that the labour disruption contributed a net negative impact of $208 million toward Canada Post’s $841-million loss before tax. Revenue fell much more than costs during the strike period. Labour and benefits represented approximately 65 per cent of total operating costs in 2024.

The Corporation’s long-standing mandate is to deliver to all Canadians – living in urban, rural and remote areas – and to stand on its own financially, based on revenue generated from products and services, not taxpayer dollars.

It’s a user-pay model meant to keep the postal service attuned to the evolving expectations of Canadians.

To do so, Canada Post must be able to change as the needs of the country change. However, the Corporation is rapidly falling behind.

To ensure the company could remain solvent and continue operating, the Government of Canada announced in early 2025 it would make available to Canada Post up to $1.034 billion of repayable funding during the government’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2026.

While the repayable funding will ensure the continuity of postal services and stability for the workers who depend on their pay and benefits, it will not solve Canada Post’s structural issues.

The funding provides a much-needed financial bridge in the short term as the company works with the federal government on the urgent changes required to ensure the long-term viability of the postal system.