People lined up in front of Service Canada’s Fredericton office on Friday morning were optimistic that the wait to apply for a passport would be much shorter than in Montreal.
A day after Francois Gamash’s public trip from Montreal to a short queue in Fredericton to obtain a passport, David Nguyen and Wee Nguyen grabbed their dog and rushed to New Brunswick from the east end of Montreal on the same mission.
Although they found a passport office in Fredericton that was busier than usual, David Nguyen said the lines in Montreal were much worse.
“It’s so bad,” he said. “It’s like people are camping outside. The building was bigger than this and they were circling [it]”
The two friends drove for eight hours to avoid Montreal formations – and many other Montreal residents had the same idea.
WATCH | Why do Montrealists drive 8 hours to get passports in Fredericton?
These Montreal residents say driving to Fredericton is “the only way” to get a passport.
Dozens of people come to New Brunswick from Quebec to avoid delays and long waits for passports.
Dozens of cars with Quebec numbers filled the parking lot of Service Canada in Fredericton, and some had arrived as early as 3 a.m.
For Michael Hagerty, a resident of Fredericton, it was a much shorter trip, and he successfully picked up his passport during his lunch break.
“I stood in line for a few minutes because there were a bunch of people from Quebec here, but I waited to enter the door and then they just confirmed it was me and gave me their passport.”
He scheduled an express passport meeting last week, where he filled out documents and paid fees.
Fredericton resident Michael Hagarty went to get his passport during his lunch break and met with a crowd in Service Canada. (Shane Fowler / CBC)
“It was like a ghost town then. There were maybe six people. And when I went in there today, there was a queue to get to the commissioner and even to the door … The place is just full of people. “
Some Montrealers praised the service in Fredericton.
Vi Nguyen said that even getting their passport a month before their planned trip was a frustrating prospect, especially since her sister had to wait seven hours at the Montreal office to get one.
“[It’s] too nervous to wait… the whole system doesn’t make sense, “Nguyen told you.
Fredericton’s office includes an estimated live waiting time on its website, something the Montreal office doesn’t have.
Last week, Karina Gould, the federal minister for family, children and social development, said 1,200 employees had been hired or were being hired to manage the flow of applications growing through Service Canada offices.
She said there would be no compensation for travelers forced to cancel their plans.
There was also talk of hiring about 200 employees from the Canadian Revenue, Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Agency Canada and Global Affairs Canada.
Gamash criticized how Service Canada managed things, saying the passport problem was predictable.
“The Trudeau government is aware that Service Canada has been working for years,” he said. “In the end, it was logical for this crisis to happen, it was predictable.”
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