No, not corrupt postal workers....just a very large country with very bad weather over many months of the year making for slow delivery.  Their postal rates are also very high.....if you think AP is bad then have a look at Canada Post.

My OH is Canadian and when his parents were alive we had to allow at least 6 weeks for a birthday card sent by airmail to arrive.

As far as ebay sellers in Canada are concerned, they have a bad habit of underquoting on postage and then sending by surface mail to keep the postage within reason.