cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/31832650

from The Toronto Star
By Michele Landsberg, Contributor
Michele Landsberg is a journalist and author based in Toronto.
June 15, 2025

[excellent article]

"When I knew I had to do something, anything, about the war crimes in Gaza (I was haunted by my lifelong grief and outrage that no-one, no-one, no-one stood up for us when we were being annihilated in Europe) I was immediately attacked online by right-wing Jews. The usual condescending reproaches and violent insults were trotted out: I was giving aid to our enemies; I was spreading a “blood libel”; I was a Jew-hater; I was “pro-rape”. None of these insults could touch me because I knew how ludicrously false they were. As painful as it is to lose cherished friends, I asked myself: Is this intense social pressure why so very few Germans stood up against the Nazis?"

What could be a better Canadian alternative to Canada Post?

What would that service look like? Should it be Public or Private?

They're trying to force the workers to strike so they can make their case to the government that the strike is disrupting an essential service and demand that they force the union to accept the terms. Literally the same thing happened a year ago: Postal workers make demands and are willing to negotiate, Canada Post completely refuses to negotiate and locks out the workers, workers strike, postal traffic in Canada grinds to a halt, millions of people and businesses are impacted, Canadian government cites the post office as an "essential service" and uses that to force the union and employer into arbitration even though the employer was the belligerent one and didn't even attempt to negotiate in the first place.

Also, news outlets scapegoated the union for all the delayed mail the last time they went on strike. "How could they do this to Canada? Can't they just accept working like slaves? It's an essential service after all, that means we get to exploit the people doing the job as much as we want and if they strike they're the problem!" No mention of what the union's actual demands were or how the post office itself acted.

Also also, Canada Post is NOT tax funded. It's a government institution that is set up like a normal corporation, but with the government as the shareholder. If that's not an ass backwards way of providing an essential service I don't know what is. Literally the worst of both worlds between private and public ownership.