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Piled-on passport charges unfair

The Canadian Press

Latest comment posted at 5:39 AM EDT 08/05/08

Foreign Affairs lumps consular service fee to cost of application which is more than the cost of the services it is intended to provide ...Read the full article

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  1. K S from Fero City, Canada writes: “Adult passport holders are, in effect, helping to cover the costs of activities that are outside the scope of what they would receive for the fee,&8221; she wrote. -- When Ms. Fraser's auditor ran the numbers, they found Foreign Affairs was making more from the fee than it spent. -- The department, though, insists that it runs a deficit in this area. It includes, for example, the cost of the 2006-07 evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon.

    >>>> Is it just me or did this mention about the Lebanon evacuation causing fees to go up make anyone else want to scream too? Fraser's comments are spot on. The average passport holder will likely never receive a free evacuation - if they require one they will be charged the costs afterwards, unlike our Lebanese - oops, Canadian - friends.
  2. Building an Ark from Eastern Slopes, Canada writes: Our Passports are over priced, double when you see most others Countries have a ten year expiery, ours - 5 Thanks- send us more cash please...
  3. Kathleen Degelder from AberdeenUsa, Canada writes: I have a good idea to stop the Auditor Commissioner complaining about everything in sight.---Take away the $25 consular services from passports and don't help "dual" citizens who find themselves in trouble. If she doesn't approve of the consular services then it would be the responsibility of the passport carrier to take care of themselves.
  4. Trillian Rand from Canada writes: As more and more details of the Auditor General's report come to light the more obvious it becomes that no one is minding the store. What ever happened to ministerial responsibility? If anything, it seems the civil service has been left to its own devices, to work or not, to set the parameters under which it works, free of any managerial approval other than what it provides itself.

    That some problems have been ongoing for fifteen years, through the terms of two different parties, indicates an appalling lack of interest on the part of all politicians to doing what they have been elected to do: run the government.

    In this modern age where political muck-raking has become an art form, who is looking after the interests of Canadians? Seemingly no one.

    Better to spend hours planning smear campaigns and attack ads than to manage. Better the opposition scheme as to the timing of the next election than point out the continuing ineffectiveness of the bureaucracy, an ineffectiveness they helped create. Oops. Even those tireless defenders of the little man, the NDP, are strangely mute on the subject.

    An abject disregard for the machinery of government and rabid partisan politics are ruining the country. Politicians no longer deserve the honorific of 'Honourable'.
  5. No Name Necessary from Canada writes: Why would the government want to make passports last ten years when they get lots more money from everyone renewing every five years? Glad to know I've help citizen's of convenience. I bet they're all back in Lebanon again.
  6. guy tozer from Saskatoon, Canada writes: When my aunt in London Ontario found out how much, and the length of time it would be, to get her passport, she went to Flint Michigan where she was born and got it in less than a week and half the price , and good for 10 years. We have a long way to go to be competitive, and not get screwed by our government so much.
  7. Greg Out West from Canada writes: Government over charging for the services provided ? How's this news ?
  8. Winston Smith from Canada writes: Thank you George Bush and Homeland Security for requiring passports to enter the USA. Finally, average Canadians know how much of a rip off Canadian passports are.

    And thank you A.G. for doing a good job making the government accountable to the people since the opposition parties all appear to be too busy playing politics.
  9. Jennifer Menna from Canada writes: I believe the AG about the over charging and the not reviewing of pricing. What the article leaves out is that there is an additional clause in the regs that states the fees charged can not execeed the average charged by countries offering similars services. I.E. the US and the Aussies in the case of immigration.

    I would say the problem with fees is that the Government does not know how to cost out the services.
  10. Chris E. from vancouver, Canada writes: The top story of the day should be that Tamils living in Canada are giving material support to the war in their homeland.

    The comments here are closed, and the CBC is strenuously ignoring it.

  11. bill johnson from Quebec, Canada writes: PM Harper pledged to double the length of passports. I trust he will follow through.
  12. True North from Canada writes: Harper want your money and cannot be trusted.
  13. robert quinn from Japan writes: It's worse overseas. Not only do they want usual number of idiot questions answered (yes, my eye/hair/skin colour remains the same as it was five years ago), they want one's photos signed by a either a judge, doctor or other panjandrum. And if you've not had the misfortune of knowing a lawyer or same, they want a notary public's signature. Needless to say, that doesn't come cheap. There are other moronic hoops and hurdles you're expected to jump through and over, after which, maybe, you'll see something completed eight weeks later. It would be more grating still if not for the fact that when you do meet consular officials, the perspiration is running off their faces, they're so busy on our behalf.
  14. Original Six Fan from Canada writes: So when do I get my $25. back for the passport I got a year ago?

    Or is the Passport Office going to take upwards of 15 years studying the situation and doing costing models a la Fisheries and Oceans while they continue to rip off the Canadian public for over-priced passports with a 5 year validity period versus a more standard 10 year period?

    Don't hold your breath for Harper to keep his "pledge" to double the term of the passports!!
  15. Gardiner Westbound from Canada writes:
    The government ripping us off. Who knew?
  16. Stuart G from Canuck in Silicon Valley, United States writes: "And if you've not had the misfortune of knowing a lawyer or same, they want a notary public's signature."

    Oh, it's much worse than that too. Notary publics in California can't legally (by California law) sign pictures or sign saying that the picture is you. On my last passport renewal I had to visit the Canadian consulate and my forms and picture were all signed by the Consul themselves. Passport Canada at first told me that the Consul couldn't sign these documents and that their signature was worth nothing!

    It took about 5 months to renew my last passport. With that kind of renewal time and the fact that countries want you to have at least 3 months validity on it when you enter the Canadian passport is really on good for 4 years.
  17. Yogie Bear from The Forest, Canada writes: bill johnson from Quebec, Canada writes: PM Harper pledged to double the length of passports. I trust he will follow through.
    ------------------------------------------
    I'm sure he will get right on this Bill, right after he appoints a chair to the Mulroney inquiry he announced 6 months ago.
  18. Bert Russell Paradox, BC from Canada writes:
    It is refreshing to hear the Auditor General getting media attention!!! She sure didn't get any from the Liberal media when the Liebs were in power.

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