TC article -
Canada Post spokeswoman Lillian Au said the corporation's Consumer Choice program, in which customers can refuse unaddressed mail, has been in place since 1997. She said there's been no recent change in policy.
But Jensen, who was first elected to Oak Bay council in 1996 and has done four previous mailouts, says this is the first time he has had any of his pamphlets rejected.
Jensen discovered the change last week when he and other council and school-district candidates attempted to bulk mail about 8,000 pamphlets to Oak Bay households.
"Instead of accepting all of them, they said we're only accepting about 5,000 and the rest you can take back with you because now we're treating these pamphlets -- this envelope that has pamphlets in it -- like junk mail," he said.
Jensen said he was told by Canada Post the policy has been place for some time.
"Well it hasn't been. The fact of the matter is, this is new," Jensen said.
The article did state that mail from 'accredited political parties' would be accepted, but as most municipal candidates are independent the exemption does not apply. That is a ridiculous argument - there are Independent candidates in Federal and Provincial elections, are their mail outs rejected? How about in Vancouver - do Vision and NPA get an unfair advantage over non-affiliated candidates?
Any local candidate who has had Canada Post reject some addresses should immediately seek a court injunction - this is utterly ridiculous.