These international remailers, for example, were under the impression that the Canada Post Corporation Act, subsection 14(1), says “within Canada”. They took that to mean that it was domestic distribution only. Some of these companies started back in the 1980s and have been collecting international mail for distribution through foreign postal administrations since that time. It was only in, I believe, 1995 or 1996 that the first legal action was taken.
So these companies had already been doing this for 10 or 12 years, in some cases, with no indication from Canada Post that they were doing anything wrong. They read the act. Most of the companies that I'm aware of read it in English, and they interpreted it one way. They didn't read it in French, because I think to most Canadians, if you have an English version and a French version, apparently they are going to mean the same thing.
They set up shop. They started taking this international mail for distribution through foreign postal administrations. In some cases it was about costs, in some cases it was about service, and in some cases it was about having a better look for the mail for direct marketers who wanted a local look for the place where the mail was being delivered.
They did this for over a decade with no opposition from anyone. Then Canada Post came forward and said that this is illegal and you can't do that, when Canada Post had known all along, or for many years, that these companies were doing just that and had basically condoned it. Again, to refer to the 1988 Manager, “Outbound mail is not covered by exclusive privilege.”
These companies basically had been doing something. They had created nice little companies for themselves, employed Canadians, and set up these businesses here, only to be told after a decade or so that they couldn't do this; it's illegal.