MP Dean Del Mastro Announces New Passport Canada Receiving Agent Serving The Peterborough Riding

September 04, 2008

PETERBOROUGH, ON – Constituents of the Peterborough Riding have a new way they can apply for a Canadian Passport. The Peterborough Service Canada Centre has started accepting passport applications. Dean Del Mastro, Member of Parliament for Peterborough Riding, made the announcement today on behalf of the Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, and the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“Our government is working to improve the services we provide to Canadians,” said MP Del Mastro. “We are opening this passport receiving site here in Peterborough, making it more convenient for people to submit their passport applications in person at the same location they go for other federal government services.”

Service Canada agents review passport applications to ensure accuracy and completeness, collect the fee along with the original identification documents (birth or citizenship certificates), and forward them to Passport Canada for review and processing. The final decision on passport entitlement remains with Passport Canada. Passport Canada then delivers the passport to the applicant by courier, along with the original identification documents. Urgent applications, requests for modifications, complex child applications or applications without a guarantor’s signature (except in the case of passport renewal) must still be submitted in person to a Passport Canada office. The nearest Passport Canada Offices to Peterborough are located in Whitby and Scarborough.

This represents another step in the expansion of passport receiving agent services across the country, which will result in up to 200 Service Canada Receiving Agent sites in communities across Canada.

The Government has also simplified the passport application process by allowing Canadian citizens to renew their expiring passports without having to resubmit documents to support their application. On October 1, 2007, Passport Canada also introduced its new guarantor policy, which allows most adult Canadian passport holders residing in Canada or the United States to act as guarantors.

For more information on the passport process, visit www.passportcanada.gc.ca. For more information about Service Canada’s role in helping Canadians obtain a passport, and the conditions under which citizens can use receiving agent services, call 1 800 O-Canada, click on servicecanada.gc.ca, or visit a Service Canada Centre offering passport receiving agent services.