An internal federal memo admits mismanagement was to blame for extraordinary delays at the passport office. Half of employees were sent to work from home and 20 percent quit during the worst of the backlog last year, said the memo.

“As Canadians started to apply for passports, operations at both Service Canada centres and passport processing centres remained constrained with staff limited to 30 to 50 percent capacity on site,” said the February 10 memo Processing Passports And Service Delivery. “A 19.9 percent departure rate was also seen for the same period for passport employees,” it added.