As a small business owner in Victoria, I have deep respect for the importance of fair labour rights.

But the ongoing Canada Post rotating strike has left me heartbroken.

It is not just my business that is being silenced; it is a part of our shared ­Canadian tradition that is disappearing quietly.

I own Art Ink Print, a fine art printing studio that has served artists across Canada for 16 years.

Every year, we produce art cards, prints, and calendars that connect families and friends during the holidays.

These are the cards that carry messages of love, the letters that children write to Santa, and the small parcels that make their way to loved ones across the country.

Last year, thousands of those moments never arrived. Letters sat undelivered until long after the holidays had passed.

Artists, small shops, and families who depend on timely mail felt forgotten.

This year’s rotating strike is slower, but the outcome is the same: heartbreak and uncertainty instead of joy and connection.

This is not about taking sides. Workers deserve fair treatment, and small businesses deserve stability.

But when a national service holds a monopoly on letter mail, there must also be a duty to maintain continuity during disputes.

The cost of inaction is not measured only in lost revenue, but in lost connection, the spirit of Christmas itself.

Scott Wingfield

Owner, Art Ink Print

Victoria

We need more unions and, if necessary, more strike action for two important reasons.

First, to equalize the bargaining power of workers against both public and private sector employers.

Second, to remind both employers and the public that simply carrying on with the failed economic liberalism of the past four decades will further diminish public services and increase the cost of living crisis.

The provincial government cannot deliver public services if its BCGEU and other employees cannot afford to live in the Lower Mainland or on the South Island.

The B.C. government does not have a spending........

© Times Colonist