It's a necessity. It doesn't carry any special protection because it's a Canadian passport. It is an international document. If you leave Canada.... It used to be that you could use a Canadian Tire credit card to go into the States, but that isn't going to work anymore, so it's there as an absolute need. It's imposed by other countries. There's no other way to do it. The passport is the international document that has to be used.
On February 8th, 2018. See this statement in context.