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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 65

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 5, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 65 - May/5/22
Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • May/5/22 2:41:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member opposite's constituents on expecting their baby because there is good news: In Alberta, child care costs have gone down 50%. In fact, I was just in Edmonton and Calgary a couple of weeks ago talking to parents who had benefited from reduced child care fees. They have said it is actually the equivalent of a mortgage payment. We are working every single day to help families with affordability, and we are going to keep doing that.
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Context: House Hansard - 65 - May/5/22
Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • May/5/22 3:03:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said before in the House, there is unprecedented demand when it comes to accessing passports. We have put a number of initiatives in place to help deal with this. We have a simplified process to replace expired passports. We have opened more client counters in passport offices. We have operated extended hours and used overtime in passport offices and processing and call centres. We have created three additional application processing centres, expanded passport intake in 303 Service Canada centres, hired 500 additional staff, continue to hire and train more and opened 12 offices over the weekend in the busiest centres around the country. We will continue to work really hard to ensure we are serving Canadians.
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Context: House Hansard - 65 - May/5/22
Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • May/5/22 3:04:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course I have compassion for everyone across the country, because there is an unprecedented demand in accessing these services. I was in Saskatoon on Friday, in fact, and visited the Service Canada centre there. I spoke with the employees, who are working around the clock to address this unprecedented demand. They are working evenings, they are working weekends and they are doing everything they can to serve Canadians, but right now there are more Canadians than at any time ever before looking to renew their passports because they want to travel. We are going to do everything we can to serve them as best as possible.
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Context: House Hansard - 65 - May/5/22
Hon. Karina Gould (Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Lib.)
  • May/5/22 3:06:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I understand that this is a frustrating process for many Canadians, but over the past two years many passports have expired, and with the lifting of restrictions many Canadians want to travel at the same time. We are doing everything we can, and Service Canada employees are helping them. If there is an urgent request, they should make that known when they arrive at a Service Canada centre. They are ensuring that transfers happen. If there is an issue, they can call the call centre. Of course, MPs have access to a special regional inquiries unit that they can call, and Service Canada will assist as best as possible.
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