Passport crisis: waiting 32 hours in line and leaving empty-handed

The Trudeau government says it is doing everything in its power to resolve the situation, but the opposition is getting impatient and is asking for action quickly.

At the microphone of the show All one morning, Lyna Mansouri said she had planned her trip to Spain well, where she was enrolled in a one-week summer course at the end of June. She had made her passport application by post in April. He was then told that the process would take about four weeks, a maximum of eight.

Having received nothing by mail, she did like thousands of Canadians for weeks: she went to line up in front of the Service Canada office in Laval a few hours before her trip.

I arrived at 4 a.m. on Thursday, I left a little after noon on Friday. Once we arrived in front of the doors, after having walked all around the building in line, after having camped there, we were told that, ultimately, there were not enough resources for us to pass to get our passport that day.

” There was a prioritization of people leaving within the next 12 hours. Those who left during the weekend were put aside, knowing that the passport offices are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. “

We do everything we canassures Ottawa

Lyna Mansouri is far from the only Canadian in this situation and the government of Justin Trudeau is well aware of the chaos that reigns in the offices of Service Canada.

Tuesday morning, tension and chaos reign at the Guy-Favreau complex. The citizens themselves manage the queue and the waiting list and denounce the federal government’s lack of organization. Police arrived at the scene late in the morning.

We are doing everything we can to speed up the process, we have hired other peoplereplied the Prime Minister when he was asked about the possibility of opening the offices 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. We are accelerating the process and we will always look at how we can do more.

The Minister of Families and responsible for the file, Karine Gould, said that 600 employees have been added, specifying however that the work is not finished and that she shares the frustration of Canadians.

“I saw the pictures [provenant de] Montreal since last week and it’s really something unacceptable. We have senior management from my department who have been on the ground for two weeks to improve the situation. “

Service Canada has notably made requests for staff loans to other departments, according to what the Minister of National Revenue, Diane Lebouthillier, revealed on Tuesday morning.

I can tell you that resources have been lent. But you have to understand that, during that period, you also had to deal with taxes.

A indescribable chaosdeplores the opposition

These promises are far from satisfying the opposition, which instead emphasizes the laxity of Minister Gould and her government.

” The minister went to visit a passport center to try to find solutions yesterday [lundi]. Yesterday! Not a month ago! And it’s been going on for over a month. It has been lax for months, even years. “

The Bloc member for La Prairie, Alain Therrien, deplores the fact that even the members, whose constituency offices are overwhelmed with requests for help from citizens, are unable to get clear and quick answers.

In addition to having indescribable chaos, communications are poor. [La ministre] is not in the House to answer questions. Yesterday I called, it was his parliamentary secretary who answered me, in English, lies. She said the offices would be open on the next two holiday Fridays. And ultimately, it is not.

It’s a government of stragglers, unable to foresee, unable to acthe added in an interview with the show All one morning.

If he believes that the government should have prevented this crisis so predictable a long time ago, Alain Therrien thought it was now time to do what we can to help Canadians. We have to open seven days a week, we are in crisis, it is essential. People in telework must return to work on site.

Everything must be done to serve the citizen who pays his taxes and who does not deserve this fate.

Quebec Minister Sonia Lebel also spoke on Tuesday, via Twitter, to put pressure on Ottawa.

Whatever measures the government takes in the short or medium term, it will be too late for Lyna Mansouri. She missed her flight and, at the same time, her course in Spain.

My lesson started [lundi] and lasts a week, so I’m not leaving. I canceled my trip. I don’t know if I’ll get my money back. Nothing is certain.