Canada Post said Friday it recorded a loss of $205 million before tax in the first quarter of 2026, continuing its financial freefall as it struggles with revenue and business headwinds and seeks to transform its operations.
The financial report was released a day before the final day of voting by unionized postal workers on whether to ratify a tentative deal for new contracts.
In a statement, the company partly attributed the latest quarterly loss to that ongoing labour uncertainty, which has contributed to continued declines in letter and parcel volumes as customers seek more reliable carriers.
It said parcel revenue alone fell by $79 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the year prior, with volumes down 17 per cent from 2025.
“Collective agreements with CUPW had not yet been ratified in the first quarter, which resulted in uncertainty for customers and pushed deliveries to competitors offering stability,” Canada Post said.
“Parcel volumes will be slow to win back, reinforcing the critical need to transform in a competitive market.”
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The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has been holding ratification votes on the tentative agreements since April 20.
While union leadership is urging members to approve the new contracts, it is also holding strike votes in case the ratification votes fail.
The strike votes “will help to give us more leverage at the bargaining table, where we will return if either offer is rejected,” the union said earlier this month.
The new contracts for rural and urban postal workers are set to put in place some of the business transformations announced by the federal government last fall. Those include reductions to workforces, a phase-out of door-to-door mail delivery and the return of weekend parcel deliveries.
Canada Post is undergoing a transition to community mailboxes it says will take five years and multiple phases across the country.
It has also moved to shrink its executive workforce and close some post offices in communities once considered rural, but have since grown to become suburban or urban and are no longer necessary.
The government and the company have said mail services in rural, remote and Indigenous communities will be protected, and that door-to-door delivery can be requested by Canadians with mobility issues or disabilities.
“Canada Post has begun a critical transformation that will strengthen the postal service, better support businesses and enable national commerce, while helping the Corporation meet its dual mandate of delivering for all Canadians in a way that is financially self-sustainable,” the Crown corporation said.
“The multi-year transformation is essential for the company to move away from taxpayer-funded cash injections.”
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