The Quebec Passport Office and Service Canada branches have limited their service offer due to the strike by federal civil servants that has been going on across the country since Wednesday morning.
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Citizens who had an appointment to settle their passport matters or who wanted to go to one of the four government service points in the greater Quebec City region must turn back when they arrive at the scene.
Selective emergencies
A client of the passport office of French origin had to spend several minutes explaining the urgency of her situation. She wanted to obtain the passport of her father-in-law suffering from cancer who must leave for France with his family on Sunday. His request was refused.
“We are going on a trip on Sunday because my husband’s father has cancer. We need his passport before he dies. I have been told that he has to go to the doctor to get proof that he is sick and will die to be considered an essential case. […] It’s still very frustrating, ”she laments.
- Listen to Francis Gosselin’s editorial broadcast live every day at 3 p.m. 53 through QUB-radio :
On the Service Canada website, we can read that “passport services are limited to clients living in emergency or humanitarian situations”. However, the government does not specify what is considered an emergency in its eyes.
Essential services that have a monetary impact such as the pension plan, old age security, employment insurance and the assignment of a social insurance number are also offered.
Without warning
For her part, Jessica was surprised by the general strike announced on Tuesday evening. She was planning to have her passport renewed for a trip planned for this summer.
“I thought that by going about it in April, I was going to be correct. I looked on the Service Canada site last night and it said to go there, so it’s a bit flat. The attendants told me to follow the news to find out when the strike was over. »
Although she understands the reasons behind the labor dispute, she worries that she will have to cancel or postpone her trip to Tunisia if the strike continues.
Picketing
More than a hundred federal public servants have been protesting since this morning in front of the Service Canada offices on Chemin des Quatre-Bourgeois to denounce the government’s inaction regarding their working conditions.
- Listen to the heated exchange between Marc Brière, National President of the Union of Taxation Employees, and Richard Martineau via QUB-radio:
“The government has unfortunately held us hostage over our salaries for two years. We worked like crazy during the pandemic to help Canadians, argues the program officer at Canada Summer Jobs, Fedna Mayrand. […] All we want is to have a fair salary. »
The members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada have been without a contract since 2021. In particular, they are demanding a salary increase of 13.5% over three years, while the Trudeau government is proposing 9.25% over the same period.
The civil servant also wishes to point out that Service Canada employees are also “citizens with families who suffer from inflation”.
Slowdowns
The PSAC strike also caused slowdowns near the Valcartier military base during the day. The mobilization causes traffic problems for motorists who want to access the base.
The military complex had warned that a “slowdown in automobile traffic is to be expected near the entrances to the base” on its social networks, in the morning.
The Valcartier public affairs office therefore recommends that people who need to access the base, such as essential workers, delivery people or contractors, “plan their comings and goings accordingly” during picket hours.