Mr. Speaker, I call for an emergency debate regarding Service Canada.
As I mentioned in question period earlier today, my constituency office has been inundated with calls, as have the offices of many members of Parliament from all parties, concerning the fact that the processing time at Service Canada has increased exponentially.
In my seven and a half years in Parliament, I have never seen it as bad as this. I am hearing on the ground that for the most part there is a lack of overtime being issued by the department and also a lack of term employees. For example, in my riding in Gander alone it usually gets about 20-plus employees on a term basis, but now it is getting only five this season. That gives members an idea of just how bad this is.
I mentioned earlier about one lady, a single mom with three kids, who was forced to move into her parents place. She has been waiting 42 days, possibly more, for her claim to be processed.
In question period, the minister said that she was working to rectify this and that some of it has already been done. However, I think the debate is necessary to bring clarification on this. If, indeed, Service Canada is putting more resources this December into the local offices, then a debate is necessary in order to bring this out. We could then bring the message to the minister that this is a very grave situation for many people who will not get to enjoy this holiday season.