Passport processing shouldn’t suffer from strike-induced backlog: minister

Hello,

Despite the strike by federal government employees, there is no significant backlog in processing passports, says the minister in charge of the file.

Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, said Tuesday that only about 20 per cent of the normal amount of passport applications were received during the strike by 120,000 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

“Particularly this week, Canadians can probably expect longer lineups because of the two weeks of applications that didn’t come in, but we will deal with them on an urgent basis,” Ms. Gould told journalists ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill.

The strike ended Monday with a tentative deal that includes a 12.6-per-cent, compounded wage increase over four years, a one-time lump sum of $2,500, and new language surrounding remote working, which the union lauded as a step forward.

“There are, of course, going to be some applications that are out of standard because of the strike, however, we do feel we have the resources to catch up with that relatively quickly,” Ms. Gould said.

Reporter Irene Galea, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Bill Curry, and Future of Work Reporter Vanmala Subramaniam report here on how the PSAC agreement sets the stage for other unions to push for more.

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