Magazines facing a severe impact with postal dispute, says Magazines Canada

Magazines Canada has written a letter (oh, irony) to Lisa Raitt, the federal labour minister responsible for Canada Post, in which it asks for intervention in the lockout and strike as early as possible. President Mark Jamison said the labour and management actions over the past 12 days have had "no discernible impact on negotiations".

The shutdown announced today will stop the delivery of millions of magazines destined for Canadians’ homes and businesses. In each of Canada’s 308 ridings over 25,000 subscriptions are purchased. Our readers do not deserve this situation.

This interruption in postal delivery, if allowed to continue, will have a severe impact on the Canadian magazine sector’s capacity to fulfill its obligation to Canadian readers. The vast majority of Canadian-content magazines read by Canadians are purchased by subscription and delivered to consumers through the Canada Post network. There are no alternative distribution channels for these magazines that can be adopted in the short term. Faced with this prolonged stoppage in postal delivery, magazines, printing companies and distribution support companies will need to reduce activity and work force, extending the negative impact of the job action to include many more families and businesses across Canada.