The fee structure is regulated by various frameworks, including the User Fee Act. In accordance with that legislation, Passport Canada cannot increase fees without first holding public consultations. We cannot unfreeze the cap imposed on us. There are also various chapters of the Financial Administration Act and the Canadian Passport Order. The fees imposed on Canadians are set according to a series of legislative provisions.
Our funding model is quite specific. We know how much of that $62 goes to salaries, technology, investment, capital and so forth. This model provides quite a rigorous description of the fee structure. It's quite easy for us to demonstrate how much a passport would cost if improvements were made, among other things.
We are not making a profit; the $62 covers the passport costs. The financial statements show that on a multi-year basis, expenditures and revenues generated by passports balance each other out.
Over the past few years, we have made a profit due to the delay in service delivery. We naturally accumulated funds. Last year, when the fiscal year ended, we had a backlog of over 300,000 files. Obviously, the funds were registered that year, but the expenditure was only made the following year. As a result, our reserve fund is quite significant.