Canada Post Corporation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-10)

Marginal note:By-laws

11 The Board may make by-laws

• (a) for the administration, management and control of the property and affairs of the Corporation;

• (b) for the regulation of proceedings of the Board, including the establishment of committees of the Board, the time and place for the holding of meetings of the Board or of any committee thereof, and the quorum and procedure at all such meetings;

• (c) prescribing the functions, duties and powers of any committee of the Board and of the Chairperson, President, directors, officers, agents and employees of the Corporation; and

• (d) respecting administration of contracts relating to any business of the Corporation.

Staff

Marginal note:Officers and employees

12 The Corporation may employ such officers and employees and may engage the services of such agents, advisers and consultants as it considers necessary for the proper conduct of its business, and may fix the terms and conditions of their employment or engagement, as the case may be, and pay their remuneration.

Marginal note:Presumption

• 13 (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (4), every person employed or engaged pursuant to section 12 is deemed not to be employed in the federal public administration.

• (2) [Repealed, 1999, c. 34, s. 227]

• Marginal note:Idem

  (3) The Public Service Superannuation Act does not apply to any director of the Corporation, other than the Chairperson, President and any director selected from among persons employed in the federal public administration, unless, in the case of any one of them, the Governor in Council otherwise directs.

• Marginal note:Aeronautics Act

  (4) For the purposes of any regulation made pursuant to section 9 of the Aeronautics Act, the Chairperson, President, officers and employees of the Corporation shall be deemed to be employed in the federal public administration.

• Marginal note:Canada Labour Code

  (5) Notwithstanding any provision of Part I of the Canada Labour Code, for the purposes of the application of that Part to the Corporation and to officers and employees of the Corporation, a mail contractor is deemed not to be a dependent contractor or an employee within the meaning of those terms in subsection 3(1) of that Act.

Exclusive Privilege of Corporation

Marginal note:Exclusive privilege

• 14 (1) Subject to section 15, the Corporation has the sole and exclusive privilege of collecting, transmitting and delivering letters to the addressee thereof within Canada.

• Marginal note:Other mail

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring any person to transmit by post any newspaper, magazine, book, catalogue or goods.

Marginal note:Exception

• 15 (1) The exclusive privilege referred to in subsection 14(1) does not apply to

  • (a) letters carried incidentally and delivered to the addressee thereof by a friend of the sender or addressee;

  • (b) commissions, affidavits, writs, processes or proceedings issued by a court of justice;

  • (c) letters lawfully brought into Canada and forthwith posted thereafter;

  • (d) letters concerning goods for delivery therewith, carried by a common carrier without pay, reward, advantage or profit for so doing;

  • (e) letters of an urgent nature that are transmitted by a messenger for a fee at least equal to an amount that is three times the regular rate of postage payable for delivery in Canada of similarly addressed letters weighing fifty grams;

  • (f) letters of any merchant or owner of a cargo vessel or the cargo therein that are carried by such vessel or by any employee of such merchant or owner and delivered to the addressee thereof without pay, reward, advantage or profit for so doing;

  • (g) letters concerning the affairs of an organization that are transmitted between offices of that organization by an employee thereof;

  • (h) letters in the course of transmission by any electronic or optical means; and

  • (i) letters transmitted by any naval, army or air forces of any foreign country that are in Canada with the consent of the Government of Canada.

• Marginal note:Collection

  (2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall be construed as authorizing any person to collect or receive any letters for the purpose of transmitting or delivering them as described in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Letters to foreign addressees

  (3) The exclusive privilege referred to in subsection 14(1) does not apply to letters intended for delivery to an addressee outside Canada.

Powers

Marginal note:Powers of Corporation

• 16 (1) In carrying out its objects and duties under this Act, the Corporation has the capacity, and subject to this Act, the rights, powers and privileges of a natural person.

• Marginal note:Property

  (2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the Corporation may acquire, hold, lease, sell or dispose of any real or personal property.

Marginal note:Administration of oaths

17 The Corporation may, in any case or class of cases approved by the Governor in Council, empower any officer of the Corporation to administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and affirmations for any purpose relating or incidental to the administration or enforcement of this Act or the regulations.

Marginal note:Postal inspectors

18 The Corporation may designate any employee of the Corporation as a postal inspector with the duty to provide for the security of the officers and employees of the Corporation, the property of the Corporation and anything in the course of post.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

• 19 (1) The Corporation may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations for the efficient operation of the business of the Corporation and for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect, and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

  • (a) prescribing, for the purposes of this Act and the regulations, what is a letter and what is non-mailable matter and undeliverable mail, other than undeliverable letters, and providing for the disposition of non-mailable matter, undeliverable mail and mail on which sufficient postage is not paid, including the disposition of anything found therein;

  • (b) classifying mailable matter, including the setting of standards for any class thereof;

  • (c) prescribing the conditions under which mailable matter may be transmitted by post;

  • (d) prescribing rates of postage and the terms and conditions and method of payment thereof;

  • (e) providing for the reduction of rates of postage on mailable matter prepared in the manner prescribed by the regulations;

  • (f) providing for the refund of postage;

  • (g) providing for the transmission by post, free of postage, of

    • (i) letters, books, tapes, records and other similar material for the use of the blind, and

    • (ii) mailable matter relating solely to the business of the Corporation and addressed to or sent by a person engaged in that business;

  • (g.1) providing for a reduced rate of postage for library materials lent by a library to a borrower, including by means of an interlibrary loan;

  • (h) providing for the holding of mail by the Corporation at the request of the sender or addressee thereof or in any other circumstances specified in the regulations;

  • (i) providing for the insurance of mail and the payment of indemnity by the Corporation in case of loss of or damage to mail;

  • (j) [Repealed before coming into force, 2008, c. 20, s. 3]

  • (k) governing the design, placement and use of any receptacle or device intended for the posting, insertion, reception, storage, transmission or delivery of mailable matter;

  • (l) regulating or prohibiting the installation of machines for vending postage stamps, postal remittances or other products or services of the Corporation;

  • (m) regulating or prohibiting the manufacture, installation and use of postage meters;

  • (n) regulating or prohibiting the making or printing of postage stamps;

  • (o) governing the preparation, design and issue of postage stamps;

  • (p) providing for the closure of post offices, the termination of rural routes and the termination of letter carrier routes;

  • (q) carrying out any international postal agreement or international arrangement entered into pursuant to this Act;

  • (r) dealing with any matter that any provision of this Act contemplates being the subject of regulations; and

  • (s) providing for the operation of any services or systems established pursuant to this Act.

• Marginal note:Fair and reasonable

  (2) The rates of postage prescribed pursuant to subsection (1) shall be fair and reasonable and consistent so far as possible with providing a revenue, together with any revenue from other sources, sufficient to defray the costs incurred by the Corporation in the conduct of its operations under this Act.

• Marginal note:Compensation

  (3) The Governor in Council may make regulations providing for the payment of compensation to the Corporation in respect of materials for the use of the blind transmitted in accordance with regulations made pursuant to subparagraph (1)(g)(i).

Marginal note:Publication of proposed regulation

• 20 (1) Subject to subsection (2), a copy of each regulation that the Corporation proposes to make under subsection 19(1) shall be published in the Canada Gazette and a reasonable opportunity shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the Minister with respect thereto.

• Marginal note:Single publication sufficient

  (2) No proposed regulation need be published more than once under subsection (1) whether or not it is amended after such publication as a result of representations made by interested persons as provided in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Submission to Governor in Council

  (3) Where a proposed regulation has been published pursuant to subsection (1) and has not been withdrawn by the Corporation within sixty days after such publication, the Minister shall forthwith thereafter submit the regulation or, if the regulation has been amended by the Corporation, the amended regulation, to the Governor in Council for consideration.

• Marginal note:Action on receipt of regulation

  (4) Forthwith after receiving a regulation made pursuant to subsection 19(1) for submission to the Governor in Council for consideration, the Clerk of the Privy Council shall send to the Corporation a letter acknowledging his receipt of the regulation and indicating the date of such receipt.

• Marginal note:Presumption

  (5) Every regulation made pursuant to subsection 19(1) is deemed to have been approved by the Governor in Council sixty days after the day it is received by the Clerk of the Privy Council for submission to the Governor in Council for consideration, unless the Governor in Council has previously approved or refused to approve the regulation.

Marginal note:Setting of postage otherwise than by regulation

21 Notwithstanding subsection 19(1) or any regulation made pursuant to that subsection, the Corporation may prescribe rates of postage otherwise than by regulation for any person who has entered into an agreement with the Corporation for

• (a) the variation of rates of postage on the mailable matter of that person in consideration of his mailing in bulk, preparing the mailable matter in a manner that facilitates the processing thereof or receiving additional services in relation thereto; or

• (b) the provision of experimental services related to the business of the Corporation for any period not exceeding three years.