This year, the problems were caused by the fact that the service standards were much longer for people who applied by mail. If the standard was 20 days, which should have been the case, then the best course of action would have been to apply by mail.
In the long term, we would like to provide passport renewals without the need to submit documents. Then, people would not have to go to a Passport Canada office: they could use our Passport on-line service to apply. At this time, we only have an on-line application form. Having fewer documents to submit will mean having to make fewer trips to the Passport Canada office.
As to the distribution of the Passport Canada offices, it has always been a function of the demand. However, we are aware that the demand might be changing.