- Member of Parliament
- Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (on parental leave)
- Liberal
- Burlington
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $131,115.10
- Government Page
Mr. Speaker, I, too, was very pleased to see the opening of the Prince George passport office. There will be about 20 additional offices that will be providing passport services across the country over the coming months.
I do want to commend the leadership of the Government of British Columbia when it comes to workforce. It has some very innovative ideas when it comes to recruitment and retention. One of the things that they are leading the country on when it comes to recruitment is that they have created a new high school accreditation program for ECEs that is going to allow high school students to do their grade 11 and 12 combined with the college ECE program, so that once they graduate from high school, they can enter straight into the child care workforce. It is innovative ideas like these, which are happening through the funding that we have provided to the provinces and territories, that are really going to make a difference when it comes to recruitment and retention.
The federal government will continue to work in partnership with provinces and territories, to ensure that we address the challenges that we are facing within the child care sector.
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- Apr/28/23 11:24:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for that question. Unfortunately, by law, passports are not considered essential.
I am being honest with Canadians in telling them that passport applications cannot be processed during the strike. However, we understand that this has an impact on the lives of Canadians. That is precisely why we are at the bargaining table with the union.
We want to resolve this strike quickly because it is having a real impact on Canadians.
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- Apr/25/23 2:47:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unlike the Conservatives, I am not going to spin the situation for Canadians; I am going to be straight and honest with them. The law dictates what is an essential service, and passports are not considered essential under the law. I am not going to make things up; I am going to be straight with Canadians. When it comes to essential services like CPP, OAS, GIS, employment insurance, social insurance numbers, and filing taxes, these are all services that continue to be provided because they are considered to be essential.
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- Apr/25/23 2:46:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the Conservatives fail to understand the importance of being honest with Canadians. This is what I am doing now, being honest with Canadians about the passport situation during the general strike.
It is equally unfortunate that the Conservatives are unable to grasp our duty to respect the right to strike. We have to respect public service workers, just as we have to respect Canadians.
That is why we are at the bargaining table to negotiate this agreement with the public service. We are going to reach an agreement that is good for public servants and good for the public.
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- Apr/24/23 2:47:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during a general strike, by law, passport services are not considered to be essential. If there are urgent or humanitarian cases, they will be processed. That information is available on the website.
However, I have grave concerns with the short-term memory loss of the Conservatives. They have forgotten that those investments that were made were there to help eight and a half million Canadians get through the biggest health and economic challenge of our time. Canadians understand that when they are in need, the government has their backs. We just do not know where the—
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- Apr/24/23 2:44:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I understand that the Conservatives have an issue with the truth, but I am just going to tell it. The truth of the matter is that while there is a strike going on, I recommend that Canadians do not submit an application for a passport unless it is urgent. With the strike conditions, under law, those passports cannot be processed.
Unlike the Conservatives, I actually believe in telling the truth to Canadians.
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- Nov/3/22 3:09:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the fact that over the summer we added 13 passport pickup locations across the country, including, for the very first time, in Canada's north, in Whitehorse in Yukon, which is really important.
We are continuing to ensure that we are delivering passport services for Canadians in a timely manner. I can assure my colleague that we are looking across the country to make sure those services are available and accessible to all Canadians.
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- Sep/26/22 3:11:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question.
I can assure him that the people at Service Canada are serving Canadians, whether it is for help with employment insurance, pensions or passports. We will continue to ensure that Canadians receive these services.
As for the employment insurance, I can assure my colleague that everyone is busy dealing with these changes and people are up to the task.
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- Jun/23/22 2:43:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are taking the situation very seriously. That is exactly why we adjusted our approach in Montreal. The situation in Montreal is exceptional. It is not like anywhere else in the country.
Every day for the past seven days, between 1,500 and 2,000 people have lined up outside passport offices. Each person in line today got an appointment card for either today, tomorrow, Saturday or even Sunday, because we want to make sure they get their passport.
That is what we want, and that is what we are doing.
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- Jun/23/22 2:41:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have already done all of those things that my hon. colleague is calling for. It takes 15 weeks to train a passport officer. This has already been going on for months. The first class of passport officers starts on Monday. This is not something that changes overnight. It is already in place.
The situation in Montreal improved today. In Laval and in Saint‑Laurent, everyone was given an appointment. At the Guy-Favreau complex, everyone is working to ensure that the hundreds of people there get their appointment.
We will continue to prepare and do everything we can to serve Canadians.
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- Jun/23/22 2:40:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, passport offices are open weekends in the busiest urban centres to make sure that people who urgently need their passport can get it.
We have hired 600 people since January and we are in the process of hiring 600 more. We are reassigning hundreds of employees from Service Canada and other organizations, including the Canada Revenue Agency, Statistics Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
We are making every effort to resolve this situation, which is truly unacceptable for Canadians.
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- Jun/23/22 2:27:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Service Canada employees are already working 12, 14 or 16 hours a day. They are there first thing in the morning. They are serving Canadians. They are also working Saturdays to process passports.
They receive applications during the day. At night, they process them and print the passports. They are working extremely hard in this extraordinary situation that is happening in Montreal.
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- Jun/23/22 2:20:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I understand Canadians' frustration with the passport situation.
We implemented a new strategy as of yesterday. We saw the lines of people forming outside of the Saint-Laurent, Laval and Guy-Fravreau offices, so they received tickets and appointments.
Today, 250 people who were outside the Laval and Saint-Laurent offices spoke with managers and got appointments. There are 10 or so managers in each office who are organizing people into 12-hour shifts to ensure that everyone can travel on time.
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- Jun/22/22 3:15:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first I want to clarify something. The members opposite keep saying that public servants need to get back to work. Public servants at Service Canada have been in offices for months. They have been working around the clock. The people they are talking about who are working from home are the same people who delivered CERB to nine million Canadians. They are the same people who have delivered EI, OAS and CPP at the highest rate in 15 years.
We know there are challenges with passports right now. We continue to work around the clock, and public servants are working—
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- Jun/22/22 3:14:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the situation in Montreal right now is like nowhere else in the country, with hundreds of people lining up at the three passport offices. With the Saint-Jean and Canada Day holidays coming up, we know that many Quebeckers want to travel.
We have now changed our strategy to ensure that people receive the services and information they need. We will continue to respond to the situation to ensure that Canadians receive their passports.
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- Jun/22/22 3:13:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is extraordinarily important that we get the integrity of passports right. That is something that I have been communicating, and when someone is applying for a passport for the first time, it is one of the reasons that we ensure we are getting this right. When we are looking at children's passports, it is another reason that we want to make sure we have permission from both parents, and if there is a separation, that we go through the custody agreements, because at all costs, we must protect our children. That is exactly what we continue to do.
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- Jun/22/22 3:07:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a passport is a secure document. We must ensure the integrity of the process, which involves stringent screening measures. This document confirms Canadian citizenship, and the integrity of the process is paramount.
In addition, nearly 85% of the passport applications we have received are from first-time applicants, and that process is much more complex than a simple renewal. That said, we are here, and we have hired more staff. We are reallocating resources, and we will be there for Canadians.
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- Jun/22/22 2:36:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I see that all the other parties in the House agree that the Bloc Québécois could never form the government here.
We will ensure that Canadians receive their passports. It is a difficult situation. After two years, we know that Canadians want to travel and that they need to get their passports. The demand is huge, and Service Canada employees are working extremely hard, day and night, to ensure that Canadians receive their passports. We will continue to take action to meet their needs.
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- Jun/22/22 2:34:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the situation in Montreal is unacceptable. That is why we are changing things up as of today. We will ensure that people who are travelling in the next 24 hours receive their passports on time. For people who are travelling in more than 48 hours, we have another strategy.
Senior management is there to speak with those waiting in line, because what people are going through in Montreal is truly unacceptable. We will make sure they get served on time.
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- Jun/21/22 2:46:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I understand Canadians' frustration. We are doing our best to fix this situation.
I have to correct my hon. colleague. All the employees who work on passports at Service Canada are in the office, and have been for months. When he talks about public servants working from home, they are working. They are the same public servants who got the Canada recovery benefit out to Canadians. In all, nine million Canadians received benefits thanks to the hard-working employees of Service Canada.
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