Priddis residents are up in arms after Canada Post issued a notice of closure for the only community post office.

On February 6th the Priddis Community Association received notice from Canada Post that they would be closing their Priddis location.

Back in October the community was given an ultimatum by Canada Post who said that the old school house where the post office was housed was not habitable anymore and they would either have to move to another building or close, despite the construction of a new multi-service building being built with specific plans to home a post office.

The community then pulled together, fundraising enough money to contribute to the required reno's.  They were able to temporarily re-home their post office in the Priddis strip mall and even had the landlords lower the rent. All in effort to keep what the community calls a central and integral part of their hamlet.

Foothills M.D. Division 4 Councillor Suzanne Oel says Canada Post recently held a meeting to discuss their plans and told community leaders, the cause of their abrupt closure is now due to staffing.

"They stated that they were not successful in staffing." Oel says "According to their statement they were unable to find an acceptable candidate."

Oel says the community really wants to keep their post office, they say it bring business in and it is a central location to nearly 800 families in the area.

"Well there's going to be many disappointed residents because the community really wanted to retain the retail service in Priddis." Oel says "Whenever change happens people have to adjust to that so I believe there will be expressions of disappointment and the community will be left wondering why this has happened."

There has been talk of a different division of Canada Post opening up a 'Post Dealer' in one of the existing businesses in the community. Canada Post Dealers have lower service capacity's but would still be central and accessible for dropping off or picking up packages and buying stamps.

This has yet to be a confirmed solution for the community, but they are hopeful as in the meantime residents are being re-routed to Silverado in Calgary for their mail.

Councillor Oel says she is proud of what the community accomplished back in October, and knows that if they keep at it, they can find a solution to this as well.

"I just want to thank the community for their tremendous effort and continue to look forward to working with everybody to help find a solution." Oel adds "if we can make something happen regarding package delivery, let's keep working with Canada Post to see if there is that opportunity in the future."

Residents that would like to submit a complaint are being asked to call Canada Post and submit their complaint. If they aren't happy with the response they receive then residents can seek help from the Canada Post Ombudsman by clicking here.

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