Some 26,000 residents of Oakville, Ontario are among eleven areas in Canada that are losing their door to door mail delivery this week. Canada Post says these neighbourhoods are near areas that already have community mailboxes, so the infrastructure is already in place.

This is the first stage of a five year plan to end door to door mail delivery across the country.  The national mail service says rising costs and falling mail volumes have made it impossible to continue it’s traditional operations.  Last week, the union representing postal workers announced a constitutional challenge to the decision to end door to door mail delivery saying it violates the rights of seniors and the disabled.

Susan Eng of CARP – A New Vision of Aging – says CARP members are backing the movement by CUPW and expects this will become a federal election issue.

Toronto Mayoral candidate Doug Ford said on the weekend, he would work with the federal government to try to keep the service.  Ford says it’s difficult for many seniors to get to a community box to pick up their mail.