Mr. Speaker, last month members of Parliament received a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs indicating that the passport process would be streamlined and that the lengthy delays experienced since September 11 would be minimized.
To date there has been little or no improvement. My staff must deal with ever increasing casework on passports that now represent over 40% of my constituency work.
Frustrated constituents are anxious as to whether they will have their passports or have to forfeit their vacations. In many cases, passports only arrive the day before or the same day of travel. This creates considerable stress for all concerned. My office is also having difficulty accessing accurate information on these files.
Enough is enough. This situation is unacceptable and must be improved.