“That means parcels and letters destined for Canadians that have been arriving internationally as of late will not likely make it to their intended recipients for Christmas,“ says Steve Pellerin-Fowlie, 3rd National Vice-President of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise which represents 11,700 members Canada-wide, all of whom are employees of the CCRA, working in Customs, Excise GST, and Trade Administration.  CEUDA is one Component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. 

Pellerin-Fowlie adds, “Our members tell us resource problems are especially acute at the Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto mail processing centers as Canada Post continues to deliver mail cage after mail cage that CCRA doesn’t have the means to screen without serious delays.  Further, managers at the Montreal center have decided to staff with an over-abundance of poorly trained and unsupervised students to sort through, screen and process the increase volume of parcels and letters.”

“I want to send this message to CCRA management and to Canadians,” says Pellerin-Fowlie, “our members would have been more than prepared to work any extra hours required to screen all mail and to make sure all parcels and letters were delivered on time.“

“There’s such a large backlog of mail at these centers it’s hard to obtain an accurate measure right now of how much a delay Canadians can expect,” states Pellerin-Fowlie.  “Usually prior to and at this time of year, CCRA managers authorize overtime to compensate for the increased mail volume and ensure Canadians receive international parcels and letters on time for the holidays.  Unfortunately for many Canadians, that’s not happening this year because of the cash crunch CCRA is facing.”

Pellerin-Fowlie states, “this is exactly the kind of limping to the fiscal-year, budgetary finish line approach Customs managers at all echelons of the CCRA are using to manage and keep to a minimum resources at our points of entry.  This bare bones approach to service delivery at Canada Customs is an open invitation to security threats that equate to a gross misreading of Canadians’ expectations on the part of the federal government.”

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