It's definitely terrible; I met with people at my MPs office and explained my frustration and they were well aware. The problem is that an office like IIRC or passport Canada was never really set up to work remotely, and they had no infrastructure in place for it. So, during the time they transitioned over to make it possible to work remotely, they built up a huge backlog of work that they are still trying to sort through. Further, you factor in as well the difficulties in staffing that most workplaces are experiencing, and everything is just going slow and getting delayed.Even if you are traveling in more than 25 days they will ruin your travel day. if a person traveling in 35 days they will not finish his application also. not sure why on earth a passport application need to take 1 month and half it is just 10 papers you can read the info within 5 min and check the docs within another 5 min and go ahead approve or deny it will take 10-15 min to finish an application. they will tell COVID but COVID shit started 2 years ago not yesterday and they should not use this anymore as some new measures should be in place to avoid delays after two years.
Not sure if they will use the Convoy in Ottawa area now or bad weather.
As much as it sucks, I don't know that there's a solution to it. They aren't going to shortcut passport application reviews for obvious reasons. All I can say is if your passport is within 6 months of expiring, send in your renewal, and make it for 10 years. You'll feel better having it even if you have no travel planned.