Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, if I may, I would like to return to the issue of the passport crisis, particularly in Montreal.

A colleague from Montreal told me a rather incredible story. He wanted to submit his passport application at the Service Canada office on Décarie Street in Montreal, six weeks before he was supposed to leave on a trip with his children. The clerk told him, “No, don’t do that, get in line now.” That means that some people in these lineups are leaving in six weeks and have been told that the system is so lousy that it is better to wait in line now than to submit their application. By doing this, by giving this kind of advice, is the government making the crisis worse?