(OTTAWA) Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould finds it hard to understand why the handing out of appointment coupons in queues outside passport offices was limited Wednesday morning. These flew away within hours.
Posted at 12:52 p.m.
“I’m going to have a call now with the regional director of Quebec to precisely understand what happened, because I understood that the people who were in line were going to receive a coupon,” she told AFP. leaving the Liberal caucus meeting.
“So I’m going to follow up because I know people are stressed and we don’t want people to miss their flights,” she added.
The Minister had indicated in an interview to The Press the day before that passport office managers were due to be at work by 7 a.m. Wednesday to give out tickets to the hundreds of people who braved bad weather to line up. This appointment system should be accessible to people who have a trip in less than 48 hours.
However, many people whose request is urgent have not been able to get their hands on the precious appointment coupon. Lines in front of passport offices in Montreal are between 400 and 500 people. There are therefore not enough time slots available for everyone.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Prime Minister François Legault commented earlier. We will see the measures in place there, but at some point we will have to manage this better because we cannot have people spending nights waiting for passports. »
“It seems to me that in 2022, we should be able to take measures to resolve this. So hopefully it will sort itself out in the next few days. »
This situation is taking place in all major Canadian cities, but it is more critical in Quebec. Many departures on trips are planned as the end of classes and the Saint-Jean-Baptiste holiday approach. Others have applied for passports in anticipation of the construction holiday at the end of July.
Minister Gould explained Wednesday that Service Canada managers and employees must also inform travelers whose trip is less urgent to avoid them waiting outside their offices for nothing. His office had assured that they could get appointments in the following days.
Many people who submitted their passport applications months in advance have no news as their travel date approaches. They are unable to obtain information online or by telephone from Service Canada and have to wait in line.