Registered mail is introduced in Nova Scotia. The first Post Office on rail appears, with clerks sorting mail enroute between communities in southern Ontario. The postal money order system is introduced. 1856 Canadian Trans-Atlantic mail steamers begin regularly carrying mail between Quebec and England. The first street letter boxes are introduced in Toronto.
Stamps come in perforated sheets.
Nine months after Confederation, the new Post Office Act comes into effect, uniting the postal systems of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. 1871 Postcards are used for the first time in Canada. The last spike on the Canadian Pacific Railway marked the completion of Canada's trans-national railway. Mail can travel by rail all across Canada. Daily mail car sevice begins between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, spanning 5,984 kilometres.