Pinewood resident shocked by post office closure

Open Letter to
Honourable Ken Boshcoff, MP
It was with great shock that the community of Pinewood and the surrounding area was informed by the federal government that the post office would be closed! The Post-Mistress had very little prior knowledge that this was to happen. In fact it was a phone call late in the evening, from her boss, that bore the grim news. There was absolutely no public consultation, no forewarning whatsoever and left up to the Post-Mistress to face the box holders and inform them on Friday that as of the following Monday we would have to pick up our mail at a group box set up on the corner. Is this DEMOCRACY in action? To add insult to injury, I received my mail the other day and it was totally ruined, the mail was soaking wet with all the envelopes unglued and the bills all stuck together. I don’t appreciate receiving my mail in this condition, especially my newspaper!
Obviously it had been sorted on site, at the group boxes, in the rain, outside.
Is this the ruling government’s policy to shut down post offices at its whim? If so, this policy is very unproductive to the communities on at least two counts (1) by removing services it encouraged the people to larger centers, thereby depopulating the rural areas and (2) it discourages people to move into the rural areas. In my case stamps and money orders cannot be bought or parcels mailed at the group boxes so I am forced to travel to a post office in another community. In my case an extra expense and irritant by a real hardship to the elderly who ar unable to or don’t drive. We were also dictated to that larger parcels MUST be picked up in Rainy River - 12 miles away.
I urge you, Sir, to look into this serious matter and urge the MInister responsible to rectify the situation by re-instating our Post-Mistress and re-open our post office in Pinewood or is this the first of many rural post offices that are to be closed without notice. Awaiting your reply in this serious matter.
–An upset box holder
George Chojko-Bolec,
Pinewood