Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, Madam Minister.
As my Conservative colleague Ms. Kusie said, our study on passport application processing times follows a ton of complaints from citizens about missed opportunities to get their applications answered. This has been reported in both the print and broadcast media. CBC/Radio-Canada reports that it is chaos. The reason we have chosen to pass this motion is so that you can tell us today what you intend to do to meet the needs of citizens, not to tell them what they should do.
I know that Service Canada officials work very hard, but you're supposed to be able to expect an answer that reflects the reality that you live in. These questions were predictable.
Currently, the 20 Bloc Québécois MPs' offices have 150 files to deal with regarding passports. I too could list several problems like those described above. Earlier, I heard you say that if people had problems, they could just call their MP's office. So here's my first question: do you see MPs' offices as having a supplementary role to that of Service Canada? My answer is no. If your answer is that they just forward those 150 files to you, as they do with EI files, I would say that's the wrong answer.
When you call, there's no one on the other end of the line, and you can't get an appointment. How can this problem be adequately addressed?
I find that a lot of things are blamed on COVID‑19. We expect Service Canada to meet the needs of citizens, and right now it's not going well at all.
How do you intend to address the situation?