Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Minister Gould, there are many stories in the media lately of Canadians waiting long hours in massive lineups for passport services. Service Canada is currently experiencing what it calls an “unprecedented surge” in passport applications, receiving more than 200,000 calls per day for passport requests, about 40 times higher than the average daily requests it received before the pandemic.

Minister, yesterday in the other place you said that you’ve hired 500 additional passport officers. Are these new staff working today or are they in the process of being hired? Where are they located? Are they on-site in Service Canada locations or working from home?

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