Correct. This is a very important point. Thank you for raising it, Mr. Daniel.
It is full cost recovery. These are fees, not taxes, nor anything else. They are fees for the cost of the service. They're adjusted according to the cost of the service. They are higher if the service is expedited—and Canadians tend to zero in on the best value for money. A 10-year passport, which has a high security value, is fewer dollars per year of passport validity. That's one of the reasons why this new passport has been very popular.
But why have we succeeded in offering such good service on passports? It's partly because there is a revolving fund authorized by Parliament—formerly in Foreign Affairs, now in CIC—that allows the fees we receive to be matched to the services we deliver. So if we get a spike, an unexpected extra demand for passports, we can immediately improve the service and deliver that benefit to Canadians.
We do not have that system at the moment, let me remind everyone, when it comes to visitor visas. We do take visitor visa fees in, obviously, but we don't have the ability to redeploy those resources when there is excessive demand in support of better service. I would argue—on a personal basis at this point—that there is a model in the passport office that deserves consideration in some of our other service lines.
I know that your committee will be considering options in that respect.