1986 Ontario Bill 8:
French Language Services Act

In 1986, the Ontario legislature unanimously adopted the French Language Services Act (Bill 8), an act which guaranteed an individual's right to receive services in French from Government of Ontario ministries and agencies in designated areas across the province with significant numbers of Franco-Ontarian residents. The law officially came into effect on November 19, 1989, and today, provincial government services are offered in French in 25 designated areas.

Opposition to the French Language Services Act came from an anti-bilingualism group which campaigned to have Ontario municipalities declare themselves English-only, in response to the Act. The cover below is a stark reminder of that period in our recent history:


St. Catharines to Welland, June 29, 1989

1976 Quebec Provincial Election
Parti Québecois Victory

On November 15, 1976, René Lévesque founder of the sovereigntist Parti Québecois (PQ) led his party to electoral victory in the Québec provincial election, becoming the province's 23rd prime minister. Although the PQ's goal was for Quebec to leave Canada to gain political sovereignty in all domestic and foreign affairs, the PQ campaign focused on providing "good government".


René Lévesque election night victory speech

The "Victory" cover shown below is an interesting artifact of the period.


Montrreal, election day, November 15, 1976


The marking speaks for itself




Day of Victory
15 Nov. 1976
Québec
My Country

1792 - 1903

A. 1792 to 1875


1. Canada's First Postage Stamps: Handstruck Paid Stamps
2. Stampless Period Handstruck Postage and Postage Due Marks
3. Pre-stamp Town Marks

4. Free Mail to 1875
5. Canadian Internal Domestic Letter Rates : 1792 to 1851
6. Canada to the United States : 1792 to 1851

7. Mail Rates Within the Province of Canada : 1851 -1859
8. Mail Rates Foreign: 1851-1859
9. Mail Rates Domestic and Foreign : 1859 -1867
10. Mail Rates Domestic and Foreign : 1868 - 1875
11. Handstruck Ocean Mail Stamps: 1854-1869

B. The Small Queen Era 1875 -1897

Domestic Mail Rates

Foreign Mail Rates

C. The Maple Leaf and Numeral Era 1897 - 1903

Domestic Mail Rates
Foreign Mail Rates

1967 : Ireland Commemorates Canada's Centennial
In addition to Canada and the United States, Ireland issued commemorative stamps to celebrate Canada's centennial year. The Irish post office released a set of two Canada commemoratives, 5p and 1s5p, on August 28, 1967.

First Day Covers

The Royal Trust Company (Ireland) Limited

The Irish Times

C.G. Junior III

Usages

Letter to the United Kingdom

 Dublin to Olfor, England, October 10, 1967

5p letter rate to the United Kingdom

Air Mail Letter to the United States

Dublin to Milwaukee, February 2, 1968

1s. 5d. air mail letter rate

1972 Krieghoff

Cornelius Krieghoff (1815 – 1872) , born in Amsterdam, was a popular 19th century painter of Canadian landscapes and Canadian life outdoors. A biography of Krieghoff and analysis of his place in Canadian art has been posted on the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online website.

The stamp honouring Krieghoff, issued on November 29, 1972, reproduces one of the artist's best paintings, "The Blacksmith's Shop".


The Blacksmith's Shop


First Day Covers

Shering Corporation







Canada Envelope Company






"Broken Door Frame on Shed" variety


Jackson




Overseas Mailers






Grover




Canada Post Office Official First Day Cover




Ottawa (General) Tag

Canadian Bank Note




David Pritchard





Usages

Domestic Letter


Downsview Sub. No.8 to Belleville, December 4, 1972
8 cents domestic letter rate + 50 cents registration fee


Air Mail Letter Rate to the U.S.

 Longueil to Southbury, Conn., December21, 1972
10 cents air mail letter rate to the U.S.

Index Dated Die Issue : 1935-1937

Rates, Domestic and International

1974 Canada-U.S.S.R. Summit Series

The 1974 Summit Series was the second of two competitions between Soviet and Canadian professional hockey players. The 1972 series, dubbed "The Series of the Century", was narrowly won by Team Canada represented by National Hockey League (NHL) players. Canadian players, such as Bobby Hull "The Golden Jet" who had signed with the newly formed World Hockey Association (WHA), were banned from playing in the 1972 series.

In 1974, Canada was represented by WHA players instead of the NHL players. However, the WHA team was easily handled by the Soviets who won the series with four wins and three ties. Canada's lone victory came at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.


Gordie Howe (l) and Bobby Hull 1974 Team Canada teammates


Scotia Bank "Go Canada" Post Cards : 1972 and 1974

a) Canada-U.S.S.R. 1972

 Scotia Bank supported Team Canada by supplying "Go Canada" postcards at its branches which fans could mail to their favourite player when Team Canada was battling it out in the U.S.S.R.  The "Go Canada" card was addressed to Palace of Sports, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

 

1972 "Go Canada" post card mailed from Brockville to Peter Mahovlich, Moscow, September 14, 1972
10 cents international air mail post card rate


b) Canada - U.S.S.R. 1974

Scotia Bank again provided "Go Canada" postcards for the 1974 series.




1974 "Go Canada" post card mailed from Caledon to Bobby Hull, Moscow, September 25, 1974
10 cents international air mail post card rate

Lucky Green Stamps


The cover below, mailed from Scarborough to Stratford, March 3, 1969, was franked with a 5 cent Centennial definitive and a 1 mil ( 1/100 cent) "Lucky Green Stamp". The domestic letter rate was 6 cents.



The letter was taxed two cents (double the deficiency).


What was a Lucky Green Stamp? Those of us who were around in the late 50s and 60s can remember how popular they were. In 1959, the Loblaws grocery chain introduced its trading stamp program. When making purchases, customers received "Lucky Green Stamps" which were pasted into saver books and redeemed for gifts.



The Loblaws website provides a brief description of its "Lucky Green Stamp" program:

Featured on its saver books is Miss Lucky Green, a bright-eyed, pony tailed little girl. With wand in hand, she points the way to the "Magic World of Gifts" that awaits Loblaws shoppers. The Loblaws Lucky Green Stamp Gift Catalogue, with hundreds of household items to choose from, becomes a mainstay in many homes.


Miss Lucky Green doll


Legality of Lucky Green Stamps

In 1905, the Canadian Criminal Code was amended making "trading stamps" illegal. (see below for excerpts of the Parliamentary debates). The Criminal Code trading stamp provisions were in effect when Loblaws introduced its Lucky Green Stamp program. Loblaws (Manitoba) was charged with unlawfully giving trading stamps to a customer, contrary to s. 369(2) of the Criminal Code. The case was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada which held in its 1961 decision that Lucky Green Stamps were not trading stamps as defined in the Criminal Code.



Since the trading stamp provisions remain to this day in the Criminal Code there is a possibility that some of today's "loyalty programs" could be illegal.


Appendix

The following is an excerpt from United Dominion Promotion Sales v. Shaw [1957] N.B.J., in which Judge Keirstead quotes the sections of the Criminal Code dealing with trading stamps, and provides excerpts of the Parliamentary debates dealing with the issue.


Section 322 of the Code defines "goods" and "trading stamps". I quote the section:

"322. In this Part,

• "(a) 'goods' means anything that is the subject of trade or commerce; and

• "(b) 'trading stamps' includes any form of cash receipt, receipt, coupon, premium ticket or other device, designed or intended to be given to the purchaser of goods by the vendor thereof or on his behalf, and to represent a discount on the price of the goods or a premium to the purchaser thereof

• "(i)
  that may be redeemed

• "(A) by any person other than the vendor, the person from whom the vendor purchased the goods, or the manufacturer of the goods,

• "(B) by the vendor, the person from whom the vendor purchased the goods, or the manufacturer of the goods in cash or in goods that are not his property in whole or in part, or

• "(C) by the vendor elsewhere than in the premises where the goods are purchased; or

• "(ii) that does not show upon its face the place where it is delivered and the merchantable value thereof; or

• "(iii) that may not be redeemed upon demand at any time, but an offer, endorsed by the manufacturer upon a wrapper or container in which goods are sold, of a premium or reward for the return of that wrapper or container to the manufacturer is not a trading stamp."

5. Section 369 deals with the issue and sale of trading stamps. I quote s. 369:

• "(1) Every one who, by himself or his employee or agent directly or indirectly issues, gives, sells or otherwise disposes of, or offers to issue, give, sell or otherwise dispose of trading stamps to a merchant or dealer in goods for use in his business is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• "(2) Every one who, being a merchant or dealer in goods, by himself or his employee or agent, directly or indirectly gives or in any way disposes of, or offers to give or in any way disposes of, trading stamps to a person who purchases goods from him is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction."

6. I quote the following from Martin's Criminal Code, 1955, p. 612:

• "These provisions appear in the Criminal Code Amendment Act, 1905, c. 9. The Bill was introduced at the insistence of many Boards of Trade and Retail Merchants' Associations throughout Canada.

• "The trading stamp scheme originated in the United States about 1895 and was imported into Canada about 1900. The operation of the scheme as it affected the customer was described in the House of Commons as follows (Hansard 1905, Vol. 5, column 9432):

• "'MR. KEMP: Certainly some remedy should be applied to this abuse. These trading stamp companies, small and insignificant as they are, are permitted to do what no other kind of financial corporation can do. They are permitted to circulate money. This trading stamp resembles a postage stamp. They are sold at five dollars for a hundred dollars face value. The merchant hands them out to his customer and they get into circulation that way. When a customer gets a hundred dollars' worth he can go and exchange it for some article valued at from twenty-five cents to a dollar. He never gets anything worth five dollars. A greater evil is this, that a great amount of these stamps are never redeemed, very few people can get a hundred dollars together. The people who have been deceived into taking these stamps are generally poor people, and it takes them a long time to collect a hundred dollars. Where the tremendous profit of the trade stamp companies comes in is due to the fact that the stamps are never redeemed. Then -- when people present the stamps at the store, they will be told that the store is out of goods but some are expected in a few days, and in the end the trading stamp agents get away without paying anything.'

• "In 1901 and 1903 the Legislature of Ontario amended its statutes so as to enable municipalities to pass a by-law prohibiting the use of trading stamps and in 1903 the Legislature of Quebec passed legislation to the same effect. In subsequent litigation there arose a conflict of decisions, the Court of Appeal in Quebec holding that the provincial legislation on the subject was ultra vires, on the ground that it dealt with trade and commerce. On the other hand, it was decided by the Court of Appeal in Ontario that the legislation was constitutional. This conflict of decisions was referred to the Supreme Court of Canada and appears not to have been decided when the Criminal Code Amendment was brought before Parliament. The Bill provoked lengthy debates both in the House of Commons and in the Senate, those supporting the Bill arguing that the use of trading stamps was an instrument of fraud and thus more than unfair competition. The Bill was opposed on the ground that the advertising company which promoted the scheme was incorporated under Dominion Charter and also on the ground that no distinction could be drawn between stamps issued by the vendor of goods himself, redeemable on his own premises by himself, to which there seemed to be no objection, and trading stamps issued to be redeemable by a third party. (Par.(b) of c. 322, excluding certain offers from the definition of trading stamps marks this distinction)."

7. At p. 613:

• "During the discussion in the House of Commons the following took place (at column 9433, Hansard 1905, Vol. 5):

• "MR. R.L. BORDEN:....I would recognize legislation against the principle of lottery as very wise, but it does not seem that this legislation proceeds on that basis. It is not framed from the standpoint of the purchaser, but from the standpoint of the vendor, and its object is to prevent the trading stamp proprietor from receiving a portion of the vendor's profits. I am not objecting to that. The evil may be so great as to require legislation, but let us understand the principle on which we are acting. If it is intended to prohibit lotteries we should go further.

• "SIR WILFRID LAURIER: I do not now dispute anything stated by my hon. friend (Mr. R.L. Borden). But we are dealing with an evil that exists. It may be that if we dealt with all covered by this principle, we should go further than we are now going. But we are now dealing with a lottery which has invaded every city and town in Canada, in the form of these trading stamps. The object of this legislation is to reach this form of lottery; and we think we have done it and will stamp it out. If any other evil....

• "MR. R.L. BORDEN: In what way does the right hon. gentleman (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) say the principle of lottery is involved.

• "SIR WILFRID LAURIER: It induces people to pay money with the prospect of a chance to draw a prize.'

Reduced Domestic Christmas Letter Rates:
1983 - 1995
This article summarizes the domestic Christmas letter rates and discounts offered by Canada Post from 1983 to 1995, and shows examples of stamps and envelopes required to obtain the reduced rates.

• 1983 : Canada Post, in cooperation with Gift Packaging and Greeting Card Association, introduced a reduced Christmas domestic letter rate on a trial basis in Winnipeg. The purpose of the experiment was to determine whether a postal code could be read by an Optical Code Reader (OCR) and thus speed up the handling of mail. The trial had limited success.

• 1984 : Further OCR trials were held at eight cities.

• 1985 : Canada Post offered a 2 cent discount for Christmas letters franked with a reduced rate Christmas stamp .

• 1986 : Canada Post, with the participation of the Gift Packaging and Greeting Card Association, introduced the "Greet More" program nation-wide.

• 1987 - 1995 : The Greet More program continued from 1987 to 1995.
  

1983 : Winnipeg Stick n Tick program

The Winnipeg Post Office sold precode self-adhesive labels , called Stick "N" Tick labels, to determine the operational effectiveness of precode postage labels and customer attitudes towards a "special" Christmas card mailing rate for greeting cards mailed to Canadian destinations.

The labels were sold in packages of 12 for $3.49 or 25 for $6.88.


Package of 12 Stick "N" Tick labels


The pictorial design of a holly wreath and candle (undenominated) appeared in the right-handcorner of the label with thick three vertical bars to the left of the design for OCR recogniton . A matrix was printed on the label on which the postal code of the addressee was to be "ticked".




Instructions were included with the package of labels:








Canadian Stamp News article describing the Winnipeg trial

Michael Warren, President of the Canada Post Corporation, reported that only 51% of cards mailed in the 1983 Winnipeg trials went through the automated equipment.

Coded Manually


Winnipeg to Burgessville (N0J 2C0)
Stick "N" Tick label paying the 32 cent letter rate


The yellow vertical bars indicate that the letter was coded manually and not by an OCR.

OCR Coding


Winnipeg local correspondence (addressed to R3C 2Z1), December 21, 1983



Pink vertical lines were affixed by the OCR


1984 : Two Piece Stick "N" Tick

In 1984, Canada Post continued to experiment with labels that could be read by its OCR equipment. A two-piece Stick "N" Tick label ( stamp and postal code matrix) was introduced and sealed in packages of 12@$3.39. The undenominated labels were sold at eight post offices : Edmonton, Halifax, Hull, London, Ottawa, Quebec City, Victoria, and Winnipeg.



Two-piece Stick "N" Tick label

Package front

Instructions on back of package

OCR coding


London local mailing to N5W 1Z3, December 18, 1984


Pink vertical lines were affixed by the OCR


Manual Coding


Ottawa to Port Credit, L5G 4B3, December 22, 1984
Stick N Tick label paying the 32 cent letter rate


The yellow vertical bars indicate that the letter was coded manually and not by an OCR.


Commercial Mail

The self-adhesive postal code matrix were affixed to letters that were not greeting cards.


Edmonton to Toronto, December 14, 1984
Manual coding


1985 No Matrix
The Stick "N" Tick labels were not issued in 1985. Instead, the Christmas letter rate was 32 cents, two cents less than 34 cent domestic letter rate.


32 cent Christmas stamp issued to pay the 1985 discounted Christmas card rate.


A cover showing the 32 cent Christmas rate is not shown. However the cover below, franked with a 32 cent stamp, was uprated to pay the letter rate to the U.S.


St. Thomas to Fremont, N.H., November 9, 1985
32 cent domestic Christmas letter discount stamp uprated to 39 cents, the U.S. letter rate


1986 "Greet More" Program

In 1986, Canada Post introduced the "Greet More" program. A five cent reduction of postage was available to users of greeting card envelopes bearing a printed matrix on which the postal code was to be ticked, and franked with the "Greet More" stamp. The "Greet More" program was implemented annually until 1995.


29 cent "Greet More" stamp
Design on the right side of the stamp. Three vertical bars to the left of the design to activate the OCR equipment.


Toronto to Scarborough, December 18, 1986
29 cents discount rate (34 cents letter rate)





Posted After December

After the Christmas letter discount period, the denominated "Greet More" stamps could still be used on letter mail at their face value.



Milton to Welland, January 6, 1987
29 cent Greet More stamp + 5 cent stamp affixed to pay the 34 cent letter rate.


1987

The 1987 "Greet More" rate was 31 cents.


The 1987 Greet More stamp had 4 vertical bars printed to the left of the design.



Pte. Claire to Whitby, December 10, 1987
31 cents discount rate (36 cents letter rate)


1988

The 1988 "Greet More" rate was 32 cents.





Milton to Whitby, December 19, 1988
32 cents discount rate (37 cents letter rate)


1989

The 1989 Greet More rate was 33 cents.





Fort Macleod to Caledon, December 5, 1989
33 cents discount rate (38 cents letter rate)


1990

The 1990 Greet More rate was 34 cents.





Pte. Claire to Whitby, December 1, 1990
34 cents discount rate (39 cents letter rate)


1991

The 1991 Greet More rate was 35 cents.




Ponte Claire local mailing, December 1, 1991
35 cents discount rate (40 cents letter rate)


1992

The 1992 Greet More rate was 37 cents.





Toronto South Central Processing Plant (L4W 1T0) to Ottawa, December 4, 1992


1993





Bowmanville (M4L 3T0) to Oshawa, December 7, 1983
38 cents discount rate (43 cents letter rate)

1994

The Greet More rate was 40 cents. Undenominated stamps were issued.


Undenominated


St. Thomas (N5Y 1B0) to Ingersoll, December 5, 1994
40 cents discount rate (45 cents letter rate)

1995

The "Greet More" program ended in 1995


40 cents


Woodstock (N5Y 1B0) to Stratford, December 11, 1995
40 cents discount rate (45 cents letter rate)

ReferencesStreet, Mike, "1983 Stick 'n Tick Not as Successful as Canada Post Says", Topics Vol. 41, 6, pp. 40-45

"R.I.P. Stick 'n Tick", Topics, 42, 6, p.9

Ward, Kathy, "Greet More" A Report on Canada Post Corporation's 'Greet More' Program in 1986 and 1987", Topics Vol. 45, No.6, pp. 12-17