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Service Canada centre opens |
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Written by Dave Mabell Lethbridge Herald
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Friday, June 26 2009, 8:37 PM |
For federal officials, Lethbridge became a model of inter-government co-operation. The region’s employment services “co-located” in the 1990s with their counterparts in the Provincial Building.
Friday, more than a decade later, federal representatives cut the ribbon on a new Service Canada office which provides employment counselling and insurance — and much more.
Passport and pension assistance, social insurance and power boating certificates are among the services also available at the new federal facility, in the former Brick store on 2A Avenue North. A youth employment office is also included.
Lethbridge had been heralded as a pilot project for co-location, and Service Canada representative John Jackson described it Friday as “a tremendous partnership” which was replicated in other Alberta communities.
“Hopefully, that partnership will continue,” he told an audience, which included city and provincial officials as well as federal personnel.
But both senior levels of government have added services and staff in Lethbridge over recent years, and space is at a premium. The new Service Canada location and its staff of 42 offer one-stop access to a wide range of federal services, along with the convenience of free parking and easy ground-level entry.
Mayor Bob Tarleck applauded the decision to provide a common access point for so many federal programs.
“You need to take the services where the people are,” he said.
Tarleck also praised the government’s efforts to make passports more readily available.
In his remarks, MP Rick Casson said passport application reviews have become an effective way to shorten the waiting time. But the addition of that service does not mean southern Albertans can expect a full passport office here, he cautioned.
“We’ll keep agitating,” but Casson said the proximity of Calgary — and the international airport used by most southern Albertans — doesn’t help Lethbridge’s chances.
“Having the ability to go to Calgary at the last moment,” if there’s a hitch, is another factor.
While some Lethbridge-area applicants have seen their passport documents “lost” in the mail, Casson said Canada Post is improving security. And charges have been laid against a Calgary man who’s suspected of being involved in document thefts.
“Hopefully, they’ll get that sorted out.”
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