The votes are in and it is official, Deepak Chopra is the winner RankandFile.ca’s Scumbag of the Year award for 2015. Chopra, the president and CEO of Canada Post, trounced a strong field of contenders in our open voting. Each of his competitors would have been a worthy choice. But rarely has a candidate united so many people from across the country. Chopra has been working hard to win this award, he was nominated but lost last year.
In 2011 Chopra was appointed by the Harper government to his position. Previously he worked for Pitney Bowes, a multinational company specializing in mail, parcel and information technology. His tenure at Canada Post started by pushing 50,000 workers onto a rotating strike and then locking them out in the spring of 2011. Canada Post was aiming to rollback sick days, lengthen routes and and force letter carriers into unsafe working conditions. The lockout was eventually settled by the government ordering workers back to work, mandating a wage settlement and the government declaring that Canada Post was a vital service for the economy.
Less than two years later, just days after the House of Commons broke for the winter holidays, Chopra and Canada Post, announced they will be ending door-to-door mail service, cutting thousands of jobs and upping postage prices. Merry fucking Christmas! Chopra then lied about doing consultations about this drastic change and he even had the gall to say old people told him they would welcome going to community mailboxes instead of home delivery, because they needed the exercise.
Part of the justification of the changes at Canada Post were its profitability. Chopra and others in Canada Post’s management pointed to a Conference Board of Canada report stating the crown corporation was losing money and mail volumes were declining rapidly. The study however compared the quarter of after the lockout, when mail volumes were massive and backlogged with the following year to show a steep decline. The study’s skewed results didn’t take into account this or the explosion in growth of parcel delivery. Hence they predicted Canada Post would lose $400 million in 2014, when in fact they turned a profit (as they have for every year but one in the last 20). And who sits on the board of directors at the Conference Board of Canada, none other than Deepak fucking Chopra.
For the last two years Chopra has continued to attack mail service across the country. He and the rest of management at Canada Post have cut service to hundreds of thousands of addresses right across the country. The contract to manufacture community mailboxes that replace home mail delivery were given to an American firm. And low and behold the installation of the CMB’s has been a mess. They are regularly poorly installed, placed in improper locales and have been routinely freezing shut in cold weather!
Community groups and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have been working tirelessly to fight this insane cut to a valuable public service. The protests, sit-ins, petitioning, canvassing changed the conversation and played a big role in curbing support for the Tories in many areas of the country. Just before the Tories called the election they reappointed Chopra for another five year term, even though his current mandate expired in 2016. When the Liberals took power they asked Chopra and 30 others who the Tories pre-appointed to step down. Chopra refused. A classic scumbag move.
So for being a lying, conniving, snivelling Tory bureaucrat whose goal has been to destroy the power of the union and the effectiveness of a valuable public service, Deepak Chopra is RankandFile.ca’s Scumbag of the year. You can tweet this award to Canada Post @canadapostcorp
Runner-ups:
Kathleen Wynne
Brad Wall
Brian Cornell
David Marshall
Alberta’s farmers
Philippe Couillard
Mario Longhi
Notable mentions:
Sara Thomas and Mike Hachey
Justice Herman Wilton-Siegal
Linda Knight
Christy Clark
The University of Toronto administration
The Ryerson Student Union executive
Nope. Christy Clark has had a much deeper integrative impact on British Columbia and its people. Smarmy woman!
Nope, C Clark has only affected one province. Douchepak, the entire country.
Well all can say ‘it is about time’ this asshole won – the public should be able to check his COMPLETE pay roll along with the rest of Canada Post upper management’s vice presidents – these guys are overpaid computer pushing geeks.
Let’s just keep the love – a commin’.
Very good choice for a delightful award. I did want to say, though, that I am glad you did NOT pick “Alberta’s farmers” for this award, for the simple reason that Alberta’s farm community is NOT united in its opposition to the NDP government or safe working conditions on farms, although, in truth, probably a majority of them are. The claim that all Alberta farmers hate the NDP and especially Bill 6 is the Wildrose (read CPC) Party narrative, cheerfully picked up and repeated by the MSM echo chamber. However, it does not reflect the truth in rural Alberta, where there is a longstanding divide between farmers who believe in collective institutions and those who believe in market fundamentalism. Some of the former group have been bullied into silence by market fundamentalist thugs in their own communities, but others have courageously spoken up in defence of the Canadian Wheat Board, Bill 6 and other issues only to be ignored by the media, especially Postmedia Network, which nowadays acts as the Wildrose Party’s publicity and outreach department.
You forgot to mention his maintaining twenty Vice Presidents ( yes men) at a sizeable cost to the corporation he is trying to make viable. More management less workers.
22 Vice Presidents
Way to go! Could not agree more! I sure hope the new government kicks his sorry butt out of Canada. Post! For our jobs and the service of our customers he needs to go!
I was thinking that how easy it is to destroy someone! The reasons that you have counted are all understandable, although any change in an organization would affect certain groups. Remember that when computers came, many people were thinking that many will be unemployed, and that was true, although many more could start new jobs in the new world. In Canada post, I understood that Deepak wanted to redefine services of a very big and costly organization. With efficient competitors and change in the habit of sending paper mails, Canada post couldn’t continue and needed a change. they tried to use their large network for distributing advertisements ( a replacement for mail) and tried to become smaller by having regional offices for deliveries like other cargo companies. This is what I heard from him in a session in Kitchener back in April-May 2015. I really don’t have any information regarding the added value of these changes, but I would be glad to evaluate the changes financially. If you have any information, please share. Thanks.
My hope is that they would switch to a paperless system because of a huge waste because of paper ads, I talked about it but Deepak believed that it is still working (of course works for making more money) but it can save a lot of water and carbon foot print. (paper industry is the number one water consumer industry and cutting trees also is the main reason of global warming)
Terry Piper – the management team is actually 18 people. President (Chopra); “Group President” Six Senior VPs and 10 VPs. Seems to me they could combine a whole lot of these positions. Why does Counsel have to be a VP? Why are Sales and Marketing separate? Why is there a Chief Human Resources VP and a Human Resources VP? Sounds like shagging the dog to me. …
all those VP’s are shagging the dog with 6 figure salaries plus 6 figure bonuses that the front line workers never get
As much as this guy deserves it, old Wynne-d Bag was my first choice. She’s part and parcel to the ruin of an entire province, not just the postal service. Upwards of 200 scandals and counting……
Wow people. Finally someone who runs a quasi government department who actually tries to make it profitable and stops suck holing to useless unions. They way they were going they were going to not be able to compete with private enterprise even though they had a monopoly. I haven’t had home delivery in 30 years and I have lived in 3 cities over that time. What is to say we have a god given right to home delivery? What about home milk delivery service? Just because we once had that does that mean its in place forever and a day? If they don’t get better and competitive they will be lost in the world as it evolves. Letter mail is almost non- exisitant, when will it be completely done? Parcel delivery is mostly being done by private enterprise because the post office left a huge void. For those who have never made payroll in their life, how do you run a company with tens of thousands of employees without management, 20 VP’s is a pittance. Its obvious all of the clowns complaining here a union laziods who wouldn’t know how to manage door to door delivery if it wasn’t repetitive and laid out for theirr little tiny minds.
You realize it was a profitable crown corp. Before Deepak arrived and has remained so except for the year they locked out their workers. Maybe a little basic fact checking on Google may help you.
the 1% loves people like you. union bashing without really understanding the consequences of loosing union jobs. i bet you would not last a month as a letter carrier. 95% + quit within the first month. too bad you are against people earning a living wage from a profitable company.
I would add that being a relief carrier is even tougher-anybody can do the same route day in and day out; try a new route every day or so. carriers are a unique bunch and the new hires are a bargain for CP-reduced starting wage, no benefits no pension etc.
I was a letter carrier for around 9 months and I had to quit. The job is shit. Management treats workers like garbage, constantly forcing more work on them for less pay and benefits.
Solidarity to you brothers and sisters. You have a difficult fight ahead.
Wow you are really ignorant to not only the facts but also that unions help the least advantaged people, something employers are not required to do and usually don’t.
Hake Stem, you do realize that Canada is the first nation in the world to plan to abandon it’s existing door to door postal delivery service? Why do you suppose they’d do that while expanding their “pittance” of an executive branch? While Chopra voted himself a 300,000 dollar bonus on top of his 450,000 salary? Talk about suckling on the teat of a nationally funded program. So who’s appendage are you suckling with that pathetic attempt to vindicate the looting of our nation’s essential service?
Jake Stem, you do realize that Canada is the first nation in the world to plan to abandon it’s existing door to door postal delivery service? Why do you suppose they’d do that while expanding their “pittance” of an executive branch? While Chopra voted himself a 300,000 dollar bonus on top of his 450,000 salary? Talk about suckling on the teat of a nationally funded program. So who’s appendage are you suckling with that pathetic attempt to vindicate the looting of our nation’s essential service?
it was and IS profitable. and it provides a service and some decent paying jobs. Canada post has paid something like 1.5 BILLION INTO the gov’t over the last 15 years.
it was and is profitable you maroon. and you think milk and mail are the same thing? where did you live for 30 years without home mail delivery? jail?
Finally someone said it.
Jake learn more about a topic before you comment it makes you look like a mindless bandwagon jumper. Canada Post is a crown corp that does not receive a penny of the taxpayer’s monies. It is mandated to generate it’s own funding and does. They turned a profit every year except the year the workers were locked out yes locked out not striking, and that year the Corp spent millions on infrastructure i.e. new computerized sorting equipment, thousands of vehicles so the mail could be delivered to the “street boxes” etc.. People need to wake up this is the next Hydro one sale. Bottom line is Canada post makes money for this country and we need to keep it not sell it off.
Dear Jake ….your mindless comments about unions shows your inexperience or age. Unions stopped the abuse of employers maybe you would like your children to start working again at the age of lets be conservative say 10.. Hours of work were whatever employer dictates pay whatever employer feels like paying……A world of human abuse is what working was about before unions. You don’t think it is happening again look around I feel sorry for young people today most of them need 2 or 3 jobs to survive because all the jobs with good pay full time hours benefits are gone….unions broken…free trade. I am glad Jake you don’t mind picking up your mail but someday Jake you will when your old and frail and that day will come.
This whole situation is a “BOONDOGGLE”! A complete waist of time and money! I’m 23 years as an employee and the incompetence is astounding!
To write an article about someone like this is supremely selfish and disgusting. What if someone did something like this to you? You would be pissed. The author of this article is nothing but an emotional, angry child. Shame on you! And shame on all of you assholes for backing this media vulture asshole of an article writer up! All of you can kiss my ass and go to hell.
Lmao, calling out someone as emotional and angry using the poster name Fuck You and telling the “vulture asshole” to kiss your ass? How is what you wrote any different from what you are criticizing? Yes I know it’s an old thread, I don’t care. I found it, so others will too.
I don’t know Mr. Chopra that well but what I do know is that he refuses to comply with our labour law. Just for that, he should not only be rewarded but also investigated.
http://www.cpcintegrity.ca.
With the scumbag’s salary, his corporate account credit card and his bonus’s, he makes app $1,000,000.00 a year, he even put a stop to employees supporting mental health and The United Way. And for anyone reading my comment, IF YOU SEND REGISTERED MAIL….DON’T….no matter where you are sending it OR how much it cost you, it goes as regular mail. And I agree with Mark @cpcintegrity… Chopra should be investigated, if he had resigned he would not get a bonus but if he gets fired, he would get a hefty bonus to the tune of a couple million plus $$$$$$$
Thank you Lori for bringing the registered mail topic into the picture. You are right, registered mail is more expensive than express post. And you are correct, it follows the regular mail stream.
A proper investigation should be done on residual income Deepak Chopra earns from his past positions. For example, does he continue to earn income from Pitney Bowes equipment sold into Canada Post or its business partners? Does he or his vice -presidents have any connection to the community mail boxes installed so hurriedly across the country? What about the crews and firms who installed the CMB’s? Follow the money and scrutinize the big players at the top for accountability and transparency! This is how you remove a flawed leader and his wrong vision for what public service should be.
Dwight Ball ( Newfoundland and Labrador ) is right behind this A$$hole and will be for years to come.
This company has been actively preparing for a labour dispute with its employees for months. Instead of bargaining with its largest union, CPC has been pushing its largest customers to find delivery alternatives – to show a hefty loss this quarter (Liberal review of the business) – and to scare the employees to jump at the first offer. Deepak is hovering his finger over the “lockout” button and once pushed, will say the employees made him do it so its really a strike. Scumbag of the Year for years to come.
How on earth this scumbag is still working? Why doesn’t the government force him to resign? He is a shame for us, the immigrants…
You just lost your credibility with me when you listed Brad Wall as a runner up. I’m sure this is a miss print and should have been Justin Trudeau.
Thanks Lorne. We’ll assume that Brad Wall not being #1 is why we lost credibility in your eyes 🙂 Trudeau has plenty of time to make the list, too.
You forgot the Government of Canada.
Union negotiations were terrible with Harper and continue to be under Tridea I.
Trying to find some info on Deepak Chopra. When did he resign as President of Pitney Bowes Canada? Cannot find that info anywhere.
It’s interesting that someone commented Canada Post struggles against the competition. Maybe, but have they not also regularly been running profits? Is Chopra also not on the boards of various competitor companies (Purolator, Pitney Bowes Canada?)? Does that seem like a conflict of interest to anyone else?
Deepak Chopra and his henchman. (Yes he’s got some Scumbag associates as well).
All of them need to resign!
Toxic management.
This has been going on too long. In all the years of Canada Post. Management’s treatment and disrespect for its workers is and has always been abysmal.
We need a fair and decent mentality for treatment of all workers.
Management in most companies cater only to their own.
Stop the War on workers!
When there is an attack on workers, we should all work together in support.
How long must the struggle continue?
All sides need to work together. It is a viable company. Through changes in the business climate, management (this means new management) needs to engage with its employees. Building success they need…
To keep it fair.
To keep it genuine.
To keep it honest.
To actually care.
We provide an important service for Canada and all Canadians. As a company we are as old as Canada is as a nation. With new proper honourable guidance we can advance and evolve like our country.
Like our country. A respected place in the world where a person will feel pride in being a part of. Knowing that everyone will be heard and listened to. Keep striving and maintaining high standards and respect in the workplace.
Majority owner of Purolator is Canada Post.