{"id":10872,"date":"2015-06-03T17:58:39","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T21:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=10872"},"modified":"2015-06-10T17:31:01","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T21:31:01","slug":"council-passes-bylaw-getting-tough-on-community-mailboxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/council-passes-bylaw-getting-tough-on-community-mailboxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Council passes bylaw getting tough on community mailboxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aurora has followed in the footsteps of the City of Hamilton to try and regulate where Canada Post places new community mailboxes as they phase out door-to-door mail delivery service \u2013 and now it is time to play the waiting game to see if the move lands Aurora in court as it did Hamilton. <\/p>\n

The new bylaw, which was approved in a 7 \u2013 2 vote with Mayor Geoff Dawe and Councillor Paul Pirri voting against, proposes a number of requirements in an overhaul of the Town\u2019s existing excavation bylaw that Canada Post will have to meet in order to obtain a permit to dig, explained Town Solicitor Warren Mar. Canada Post will now, in theory, have to provide \u201cwritten evidence\u201d to Town Hall to prove they have adequately consulted with the neighbourhood in which they plan to erect a box, a particular sticking point for residents in both Aurora and Hamilton who have said they have very much been left out of the conversation. <\/p>\n

This move \u201cputs the onus on Canada Post to show they have done their diligence and they have also done their due diligence with regards to municipal services and other items we may have either above and below ground that would affect the placement of the mailbox,\u201d said Mr. Mar.<\/p>\n

Councillor Tom Mrakas, a driving force around the Council table for action to get Canada Post to the table for consultation, said the recommendations approved by Council ticked all the right boxes, a sentiment shared by most of the other elected members. For Councillor John Abel, it was important to send a \u201cmessage\u201d to Canada Post that each neighbourhood must be engaged to determine the best locations for the new mailboxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should serve notice to Canada Post that we have got plenty of time [to consult] in each neighbourhood and there is no rush,\u201d he said. \u201c[We should] let them know that, then we will issue the permit, and not until then.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Councillor Michael Thompson, the changes in the bylaw simply put the requirements of Canada Post on par with other groups \u2013 such as telecommunications companies \u2013 who need to clear certain municipal hurdles before installing their equipment. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt simply requires Canada Post meet reasonable requirements and that they apply for a permit, no different than what some other utilities do, and part of that reasonable requirement is meaningful dialogue,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have heard over and over again that that has been missing, that we haven\u2019t been communicated or contacted with regards to some of these sites, and that is not appropriate. It should be a collaborative process. We have had to go to this length to be able to ensure that we, as stewards of the community, are actively involved in this process and there will be some consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen, however, to what length Canada Post will go in order to proceed as planned. Canada Post and the City of Hamilton are expected to continue their fight in Federal court this week after the Crown Corporation launched a case against the municipality to quash their similar bylaw, arguing such a move was beyond Hamilton\u2019s jurisdiction. <\/p>\n

As such, Aurora\u2019s new bylaw might have to wait if it is ever to have its adult teeth grow in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been informed by the Regional Prosecutor\u2019s office they don\u2019t intend to prosecute any charges under this particular bylaw against Canada Post given the fact there is ongoing litigation and I wouldn\u2019t expect any court to actually deal with any prosecutions until the outcome of the case is heard,\u201d said Mr. Mar.<\/p>\n

Although the new legislation will allow Aurora\u2019s bylaw department to issue notices of violation to Canada Post, the position of the Regional Prosecutor would likely get in the way of enforcing it, a \u201ccompletely understandable\u201d situation, said Techa van Leeuwen, Aurora\u2019s Director of Bylaw Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Council does pass a bylaw, I have no idea how Canada Post will respond to that, whether they will seek to join us in a particular action or whether they will start a separate action against us to quash it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While Councillor Jeff Thom indicated he was concerned with the financial implications should the new bylaw lead to a date in court \u2013 the financial implications would be brought back to Council in closed session, if the situation arose, noted Mr. Mar \u2013 it was important to take a stand for the consultation process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably the only way we can move forward with anything meaningful,\u201d he concluded, \u201cbut we\u2019ll have to see what the court says as well.\u201d
\nThis uncertainty, however, made Councillor Pirri have a dim view of the outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be in favour of the bylaw because I don\u2019t think it will get us anywhere or do anything of meaning,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I\u2019m wrong, I\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora has followed in the footsteps of the City of Hamilton to try and regulate where Canada Post places new community mailboxes as they phase out door-to-door mail delivery service \u2013 and now it is time to play the waiting game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2Pm","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-18 15:21:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}