A private member's bill that would make it free to send letters to Canadian Forces personnel serving overseas has stalled, and the New Brunswick MP who sponsored the bill wants to know what the holdup is.

Saint John Liberal MP Paul Zed introduced the bill to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act in April.

Not only has Canada Post not responded to his calls for action on the matter, he says, but House of Commons leader Peter Van Loan struck down the bill three times in three weeks.

Zed said it doesn't make sense, because he feels the majority of parliamentarians support the bill.

"I've been receiving assurances from senior members of the cabinet and many backbench Conservative members," he told CBC Newsworld Wednesday. "The reality is I think that Canada Post had better listen to Canadians and listen to parliamentarians."

If Canada Post can make it free for members of Parliament and constituents to correspond through the mail, he said, the postal service can make it free for a modest number of people serving overseas and their families.

Zed said the bill was inspired when one of his constituents had a letter to a soldier returned to her in April, with six cents postage due.

June Dobson's nephew, Master Cpl. Steven Maher, had been in Afghanistan since February.

"I thought, that's kind of cheap," Dobson said. "I was so upset. Not at the six cents, but there's another week delayed in getting the mail to him."