With five days before we fly I finally received my new Cdn passport. It has taken six months, three photos and hours on hold. One picture was rejected because it did not have a neutral expression - a small smile - The lines because of recent border changes for passports in both the US and Canada has considerably lengthened. My last renewal took three weeks, this one six months. When people asked if I was excited about going to Italy, I would reply "I would be less so if I had a passport." Finally this last weekend I flew to Toronto, got a picture taken there and through a pre-arrangement jumped the line, which had 300 people in it 30 minutes before it opened.

If you need a new passport - do it now!

Dan - I agree that you should not delay getting a passport quickly if you are travelling. There are horiffic lines but how long really depends upon where you go. For example - just by going to an office outside of Toronto (i.e. ST Catherines or Hamilton) you cut your wait time down considerably.

I think your Cdn passport gets processed much faster if you use e-pass to fill out your application online.

When I applied for renewal in March. I filled out the online form, printed it(which you can't do until all the required fields are filled in) and took it to the downtown office, surely one of the busier ones in Toronto. I was in and out in 30 minutes and my passport arrived within 2 or 3 weeks. Everyone I know who has done this had the same experience.