To the Editor,
A recent Cumberland News Now question asked: Is it reasonable to expect Canada Post to reduce services? Rather than a yes or no answer, it begs the additional response: What was the purpose of Canada Post to begin with?
In fact, the principal purpose of government is to provide services that are not otherwise
available to citizens; that cannot be provided profitably by the private sector and are paid for out of the country's treasury. The idea that every government service must pay for itself is ludicrous.
Imagine what kind of armed forces we would have if their first priority was to pay for themselves, or a railway forced to save on essential maintenance funding or fair wages.
It is one thing to be cost efficient and avoid waste or duplication, but to reduce any
government service because it doesn't meet these goals is simply bowing to the corporate mentality, which calls for profit at all costs.
The provision of essential services to the people is what the money is for, what we pay taxes for, otherwise, who needs government? There is very little that government does that cannot be done more efficiently by the private sector, provided it is possible to earn a fair profit from it.
Following the corporate lead during the late 19th century, governments, including ours, became profit oriented, thus the creation of the so-called Crown Corporations, businesses run by government appointed boards that couldn't be fired for inefficiency, that haven't earned a nickel in profit since.
The answer is to stop giving our money away to the undeserving (isn't it ironic how that word rhymes with Irving) and start paying for services to the people. Any government that did that would stay in power forever.
John G. McKay,