Why Canada’s Christmas presents may not be delivered on time this year

It’s one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, but for many Canadians, this year’s Black Friday deals may not arrive before Christmas – and that could be a death knell for already hard-hit small businesses.
Two weeks into a national postal service strike at Canada Post, and many businesses say they’ve suffered steep financial losses as customers have had to wait for their orders. Inventory sits in warehouses across the country and shipping costs have increased.
Lorne James, who owns Otter Valley Railway, a model train company in London, Ontario, estimates he’s lost C$120,000 ($85,600; £67,200) in sales since the strike began.
“It’s going to wipe out a good number of businesses,” he told the BBC. He estimated that about 80% of his orders are received online, and up until two weeks ago, 99% of his deliveries were done with Canada Post.
Negotiations between the company and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPOW) have broken down, amid massive financial losses, especially over the issue of allowing temporary workers to help expand the company’s delivery to seven-days-a-week.
Bruce Winder, a Canadian retail analyst, said that while the growth of online shopping has led to new courier companies entering the market, Canada Post is often the most affordable, and has the network to deliver in rural areas many other companies won’t.
The strike could not come at a worse time, Mr Winder said. For companies that sell things that can be gifted, Christmas sales can account for 30-40% of their annual revenue, he told the BBC.
He also predicts that this year, Canadians were already planning on spending less, because of the rise in the cost-of-living.
“It’s a double whammy, you know, because they’ve got the Canada Post strike and they’ve got sort of negative consumer sentiment,” he said.
Mr James said he’s doing better than most, because he negotiated contracts with other delivery services prior to the strike – but shipping overseas with a different carrier was too expensive, which has him losing out on some orders this holiday season.
In an open letter, Canadian company Shopify, which helps businesses set up online stores, urged the government to intervene to “prevent a devastating blow to Canadian small businesses at their most critical time of year”.
The letter came after the federally appointed mediator suspended talks on Wednesday.
“His assessment is that parties remain too far apart on critical issues for mediation to be successful at this time,” said Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon on X.
The union says it is bargaining for inflationary pay rises, better benefits, and for the company to agree to not hire outside-contractors. Meanwhile, Canada Post says it needs to have more flexible work hours – and hire more temporary workers – in order to move to seven-day delivery and be more competitive.