Ontario Court of appeal upholds Canada Post’s position on re-mailers

Canada Post announced today that the Ontario Court of Appeal has unanimously upheld Canada Post Corporation’s exclusive privilege to collect, transmit and deliver letters in Canada, including letters from Canada to the rest of the world.
Mr. Justice Robert Blair delivered the unanimous decision of the court dismissing the appeal by Key Mail International Inc. who challenged Canada Post’s exclusive statutory privilege under the Canada Post Corporation Act with respect to the collection, transmission and delivery of mail in Canada. The issue was whether Canada Post’s exclusive privilege prohibits others from collecting and/or transmitting letters within Canada for purposes of delivery to destinations outside of Canada.

“We are very pleased with the decision”, said Gerard Power, vice-president, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Canada Post. “It confirms what we have long believed, that the exclusive privilege is in place to enable us to provide universal access and universal delivery for all Canadians.”

Key Mail International Inc. had been operating an international outbound lettermail service for the delivery of letters to other countries and Canada Post aggressively defended its exclusive privilege and successfully brought legal action against Key Mail in August 2004.

Remailers that collect large quantities of mail in Canada and induct it into the postal system of a foreign postal administration cost Canada Post between $48 million and $80 million annually in lost revenue.

“We expect that other remailers will respect this decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal and discontinue their activities in Canada”, said Power. “Given that the decision is unanimous, supports the Superior Court and is consistent with decisions in other provinces, it is unlikely that leave to appeal would be granted.”