Canada's passport application backlog now 'virtually eliminated,' minister says

Social Development Minister Karina Gould says Service Canada has eliminated 98 per cent of the massive backlog of passport applications.

Most new passport applications were being processed on time by October, but thousands of applications before then were backlogged, with would-be travellers facing excessive delays.

Gould expects more Canadians to apply for passports in the next few years because the first ones issued with a 10-year expiry date will come up for renewal in July.

She is in Hamilton, Ontario for a three-day cabinet retreat, which is also focused on the war in Ukraine and inflation.