SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 100 - Sep/22/22

Mr. Eric Duncan (Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, CPC)

Sep/22/22 5:51:08 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-30

Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful for that very insightful speech from the NDP member, and here is why. NDP members are more excited to talk about our new Conservative leader than they are about anything else, including their relationship with the Liberal government. I think I know why. We are back from a summer around the riding, and I think folks in Elmwood—Transcona, people in Timmins and people on Vancouver Island sent NDP members a little message this summer to say they do not like the relationship they have with the Liberal government. Their policies are driving inflation, and what we are continuing to see is the same thing. If the member wants to talk about the new Conservative leader, I am happy to do so as well. The question for the member, then, to put it on the record, is about our clear message this week. Payroll taxes are going to be going up, taking more off people's paycheques January 1. The carbon tax is going up April 1, and it is scheduled to triple. If the member wants to control inflation and wants to help people with their financial budgets, does he agree with us and with no new tax increases?

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Context: House Hansard - 100 - Sep/22/22

Mr. Eric Duncan (Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, CPC)

Sep/22/22 7:26:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be back here in the House of Commons with my colleagues as we get back to the routine here in Ottawa, and to our job on this side of the House of holding the government to account on the many issues and problems our country is facing. On that, I want to follow up on my question from question period in June, before we rose, on the chaos we were seeing at the time at Passport Canada. In my question, the scene at that time was absolute chaos in every part of this country for Canadians simply wanting to apply for or renew their passports. We had Canadians each day by the hundreds, if not by the thousands, lined up in lawn chairs at Service Canadas and Passport Canadas, and coming to our MP offices begging for help as they began to travel once again. It was bad. The government said it was going to address it, and shortly after the House recessed for the summer, the cabinet announced that it had created a special committee focusing on delivering results on customer service. Ten cabinet ministers came together, and I will note here that in the Toronto Star, days after that announcement, the headline read, “Passport delay task force wants something ‘tangible’ within weeks”. That was said by the minister who was co-chairing it. “This is about listening first”, she said, “That’s how I operate: I get the facts, I listen, and then I act... I want Canadians to know that we are there for them, we are there with them, and we will get to the bottom of this.” June 28 was the date of that Toronto Star article. I had hoped I could come back today and do a late show this evening to thank the government for solving the problem. In fact, unfortunately it is the opposite. I can say to members, based on the experience in my constituency office and the experiences I hear about from many people in my riding, and I know it is a growing and continued frustration across this country, that it is just as bad today when it comes to service standards at Passport Canada. I am grateful to my constituency staff in Cornwall and in our Winchester satellite office, and I can confirm that, despite the government's pledge months ago to improve the situation, we are still getting dozens of transfer requests, because people are travelling in the coming days and weeks and still have not gotten their passports. Dozens of people are inquiring at our office, saying they applied in March, April or May, and still have not heard back. The irony that so many say to me, and it is so true, is that they submit their passport application through the mail or through an MP office, Service Canada or Passport Canada, and very quickly they charge the credit card within a matter of days, but then it is a matter of months and months of waiting for a document, when our standard used to be, at some point, about two, three or maybe four weeks in tough times. Months in, the government is saying it is spending, hiring and doing all these things, but it is resulting in nearly zero change for the average Canadian who is trying to get their passport. We are seeing and living that in Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, and as a matter of fact, I just read, within the last few weeks on CTV Toronto, a headline that says there are massive lines for SIN cards and passports in the greater Toronto area. Lines outside Service Canadas like Brampton's are not dissipating. As the fall semester looms, many international students are arriving in Canada, and they expect this problem to continue. When is the date that Canadians can get back to normal standard customer service levels at Passport Canada? There are apparently 10 cabinet ministers, millions of dollars and people being hired yet, months later, we are back this fall and we are still in the same situation we left in June.

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Context: House Hansard - 100 - Sep/22/22

Mr. Eric Duncan

Sep/22/22 7:34:40 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the parliamentary secretary's response, but I want to highlight a couple of things in the one minute that I have left. Again, there are 10 cabinet ministers apparently focused on this. Promises have been made of more spending, more staff and more hiring, but at the end of the day the one thing that is absent is that it is taking months upon months, and there are hundreds of people in lines in communities like Brampton. Brampton apparently got improved service, and here we are still seeing lines, confusion and frustration. Members are going to hear me speak about this several times over the course of this fall's parliamentary session, because it is not just Passport Canada. When it comes to Service Canada, CRA, Veterans Affairs and everything that the federal government touches these days, I will say the words of the Auditor General of Canada: The Liberal government is spending more money and it is getting fewer results. I will ask one last time, what date? With all this spending, this plan and 10 cabinet ministers, when is the service standard going to get back to the way it should be?

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