Regarding the Canadian Passport Service disaster, I have two pieces of news: good news and bad news.
The bad news first: to anyone who knows the Canadian public service from the inside, the passport disaster comes as no surprise. Despite criticism from the outside, in the Canadian public service those responsible for such waste are still kept in their jobs and only repeat their bad and costly experiences. Think of the Phoenix pay system affair, which cost at least tens of millions of dollars. Did you hear that only one of the managers was disciplined or fired? Alas! We can be assured that the same will apply to the passport service.
The good news: we could put an end to the disaster today by calling on the Canadian army! I don’t understand why it hasn’t been done yet.
Over the years, since Lester B. Pearson, the Canadian army has carved out a solid and highly advantageous reputation on the international scene for its actions in the field of peacekeeping, more specifically for its administrative, as opposed to the combatant role.
In my work for the United Nations and for international missions, I have seen the Canadian military act to solve problems similar to those of the passport service, and even some much more serious. They are readily called upon because Canadian soldiers have a reputation for being competent, disciplined, efficient, quick and well trained for such problems. They also have a reputation for being generous and common sense. Why wouldn’t they serve Canadians for once?
Why wouldn’t the Canadian government call on them to solve this disaster which, obviously, goes far beyond the capacities of the authorities and the personnel of the ministry? This should have been done a long time ago.
To see in video