Government Operations committee  This is why we are asking for the—

Government Operations committee  The problem is caused, among other things, by our limited capacity for verifying Canadians' identity.

Government Operations committee  No, it is.

Government Operations committee  Yes. In fact lots of countries that are now issuing electronic passports are going back to five years.

Government Operations committee  The thing is that if your passport lasts longer and it is being counterfeited, you have an issue. There's also the issue of facial recognition. As we move towards new technology—

Government Operations committee  From our standpoint, the five years is directly related to security.

Government Operations committee  No, it's really because—you're absolutely right—Canadians have easy access worldwide. Canada's a multicultural society, so it's normal to travel with a Canadian passport, regardless of your ethnic background and so on. It's for that reason and that reason only.

Government Operations committee  In terms of putting the regime in place, we could do that as soon as possible. The issue is really to find the proper means to inform Canadians to secure their passport. It could be done as they enter those countries; it could be done, as you said, through a notice. It could be done through the little booklet that is issued with the passport, Bon Voyage, But..., but it could be done relatively quickly.

Government Operations committee  That's monthly. For November, December, and January, it was about 30 million a month.

Government Operations committee  One factor we haven't been able to figure out yet remains a challenge for us. Some people are living in the U.S. and are travelling back to Canada to get their passport, and then they go back to the U.S. We have numbers, but we're not confident at all that those numbers are right.

Government Operations committee  Two years ago we had a renewal pilot. Basically, through this pilot we invited a certain number of people to renew according to a streamlined process. Through that process, you don't have to come to the counter in person and you don't have to send your birth certificate and other identity documents, because we should have the means to do that without having to interface with the people.

Government Operations committee  Exactly: you've done it once, you had a passport, and so on. We would basically like to try that renewal process again, with more people, to assess what it means in terms of re-engineering the way we do business. Out of 3.1 million passports issued last year, 84% of those were at the counter.

Government Operations committee  It's two or three times. That's the number of hits. We're not talking about the number of transactions between us and the public.

Government Operations committee  Yes. It's the same thing with passport online.

Government Operations committee  I do not know.