Hi, Mr. Duncan. It's nice to see you. Thanks for joining the committee today.
To be clear, regarding your opening comment, I was scheduled to appear on December 14, but the House rose and the committee cancelled the appearance. I was very much looking forward to appearing at that time, but it was decided—because the House rose—that we would push it into the new year. That's not something that was my decision. That was a decision of the committee.
With regard to the passport program, I have been clear from the beginning: What happened in the spring was unacceptable, and Canada should never be in that position. Canadians should never be put in that position.
I want to clarify, though. For the in-person service, obviously, there were long lineups. The experience of Canadians getting a passport was not appropriate and should not have happened. We have now changed how that experience takes place at Service Canada centres and passport offices.
For the in-person 10-day service, service standards were met the entire time. If someone went to a passport office, they got their passport within the 10-day standard 93% or 94% of the time. The challenge was in the mail system. That's where we saw huge delays and that's where we saw the backlog.
I also want to comment—