Social Development Minister Karina Gould yesterday rejected any compensation for travelers left out of pocket due to extraordinary delays at passport offices. Gould to date has not explained why passport managers ignored 2021 warnings to prepare for a flood of new applications for travel documents, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“Some of those Canadians may even just be receiving their passports now despite having applied as early as the summer,” Gould told reporters. “I have seen these cases in my own office.”.No compensation will be offered for costs attributed to delays, said Gould. She added that not every application would result in a passport.".“What recourse do they have if any?” asked a reporter. “When it comes to passports, we always recommend Canadians apply well in advance,” replied Gould. “I would still encourage people to make sure if they have travel coming up to check to make sure they do have a valid passport.”.The passport office yesterday in a statement said processing delays had returned to pre-pandemic levels. It promised 10 days’ wait time to process new applications submitted in person and 20 days for mail-in forms..“Service Canada nearly doubled the operational workforce from 1,365 employees in March to 2,639 in December,” said Minister Gould. “It expanded access to service for Canadians to more offices.”.Extraordinary delays last year saw applicants wait up to seven hours to submit in-person forms or face a four-month delay for returns by mail. Managers installed crowd control barriers and summoned police at several offices..Gould’s department in a Backgrounder document blamed delays on “a sudden increase in the volume of applications,” “a loss of efficiency due to a shift to mail-in applications” and “a large proportion of complex applications.” However internal records showed passport managers had a year’s warning to prepare..The passport office in a June 23, 2022 briefing note Passport Productivity And Staffing Measures said it knew the previous year there would be a rush for documents. “Travel limits imposed during COVID-19 reduced demand for the passport program by more than 80% compared to pre-pandemic estimates,” said the note..“Current forecast assumptions indicate the passport program is likely to experience record volumes as delayed applications from the pandemic coincide with the ten-year passport renewal cycle beginning in 2023,” said the note..Cabinet in a separate Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons disclosed many passport offices reduced in-person staffing last January just as volumes of applications grew..The Winnipeg passport office cut in-person staffing by 13% from pre-pandemic levels. Vancouver fell 17 percent. Toronto was down 28%, Regina 31%. Edmonton had 59% fewer in-person staff at service counters.
