Bruce Peninsula Press Responds to Canada Post/CUPW Refusal to Deliver Unaddressed Community Newspapers
The following letter was sent to Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff responding to Canada Post/CUPW refusing to deliver unaddressed community newspapers as part of their job action.
Dear Alex Ruff,
When it works, mail is largely an efficient way to get our community newspaper, The Bruce Peninsula Press, into readers’ hands. As part of its ongoing contract dispute with Canada Post, CUPW is refusing to deliver flyers. This means unaddressed newspapers like ours aren’t being distributed.
The Bruce Peninsula Press is the mass media of our communities – it is mailed to every business and household in the Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula, a community with a largely senior base – seniors that may not be “social media” or computer savvy, and rely on our newspaper for information about local events, Municipal news, and reports from organizations working hard to create a community where seniors feel included and can age well at home. So, while the union and Canada Post fight it out, it’s our readers who are taking it on the chin.
Under the leadership of News Media Canada, the Ontario Community Newspapers Association (which we are members of) and several of its sister organizations have called upon the heads of both CUPW and Canada Post to make sure that newspapers continue to be delivered. The associations have also brought this to the attention of the relevant federal ministers in the hopes that they will intervene on behalf of Canadians.
However, for the moment, papers like this one will do whatever it takes to get copies into the hands of readers. Unfortunately, it will mean asking readers to do more to get their papers, which is not something publishers take lightly.
The last postal strike showed, the strong bond between this paper and the community.
Please help support a local Bruce Peninsula community newspaper. Whatever you can do to put pressure on the people who can rectify this problem would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Marianne Wood, Publisher
Bruce Peninsula Press
