The regional district board of directors want to stamp out recent changes to Canada Post mail routing out of the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys.
Oliver rural Director Allan Patton brought the changes to the attention of the board, which involves the collection of mail beyond local post offices in the regional district. Instead of going to Kelowna for sorting, mail now goes to Vancouver and back - adding significantly to the number of days a piece of mail can take to get from one local community to another, such as Oliver to Osoyoos.
“Are local post offices in danger of closing?” he asked. A number of other directors agreed the change in delivery was for the worse. Oliver Director Ron Hovanes agreed that post offices were being put at risk by the change, stating that it was a regional district issue to ask Canada Post what their intentions were.
Patton put forward a director’s motion to have staff research future intentions of Canada Post in the regional district, which carried. The board will also invite Penticton MP Dan Albas to come before the board to speak to the matter.