Canadians seeking passports continue to face long waits and frustrating delays, as Service Canada struggles to meet its own service standards despite doubling its workforce, according to a briefing note obtained from the agency.
“Service Canada continued to experience system outages that impacted the intake, processing and print systems,” stated a December 12 update titled Passport Service Delivery Update.
“These outages had negative effects on the overall program and impacted performance which resulted in fewer passports being issued to clients.”
Blacklock's Reporter says the agency offered no details about the source of the outages but said efforts were underway to “fix network and system issues.”
It also clarified that the delays were unrelated to a 28-day postal strike that concluded December 13, which had delayed the mailing of 215,000 passports.
According to the note, the outages caused a cascade of problems, including longer processing times and an overall backlog of applications. In December, applicants who visited Service Canada offices waited an average of 67 minutes, while those calling the agency’s hotline endured an average wait of 33 minutes.
Despite hiring 87% more employees in 2023 — bringing staffing levels from 1,391 to 2,600 — Service Canada failed to meet its minimum service standards, which require 90% of applications to be processed within 10 days for in-person filings or 20 days by mail.
Even with 246,000 hours of overtime logged by staff last year, the agency acknowledged it could not keep pace.
“The passport program has always had a need to use overtime to manage the program,” the briefing note explained.
“More recently, Service Canada has been relying heavily on overtime to recover from higher than forecasted volumes and system outages that occurred earlier in the year.”
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux pointed to the situation as a glaring example of inefficiency within the federal government.
“We have hired that many hundreds of public servants. Okay, but when will I get my damn passport? That’s the outcome. That’s what we are after,” Giroux testified before the Senate national finance committee last year.
Giroux expressed skepticism about how Passport Canada might assess its own performance in the next Departmental Results report.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they claim some sort of success despite the disaster we’ve seen the last couple of months,” he remarked. “There is clear, clear room for enhanced leadership.”
He also criticized broader service delivery issues in federal programs. “If you asked anybody who asked recently for a passport, Employment Insurance, Old Age Security, and the list goes on, they are probably very well aware the level of service Canadians are getting is not what one could expect from a world-class public service,” Giroux said.
“There needs to be a crack of the whip big time,” he concluded.