I needed to renew my passport and apply for one for my child. This Service Canada centre is a 'receiving agent' which means that they can do a lot of the basics for a standard passport application, such as validate your documents, accept your payment and send off your application to an actual Passport Canada office (apparently in Scarborough), but they can't do other things like process an express application or basically anything that isn't a standard application.
The office is on the second floor of the Gerrard Square mall - go up the escalators, turn left and basically do a 180 and it's there (if I recall correctly, it's next to a dollar store). It's an open entrance with a bunch of clusters of computers you can sit at, and a wall of about 4-5 desks with employees at the back. It wasn't immediately clear what I was supposed to do so I lined up behind the one family who was speaking to a man who looked like security. Immediately another man came up to me from the desks at the back and was able to help me right away.
It had been awhile since I'd had to submit my passport application but I would say that it took about 15-20 minutes for each one. The (friendly) employee reviews the application, ensures that all the details are filled out as accurately as possible (to help prevent rejection), validates your identification and photos, enters you into the system to get the ball rolling, and takes your payment (Visa accepted). They also have a direct line to the main passport office in case they come across something that even they're not sure about, to save you having to call the general line yourself.
The website says that the shortest waiting times are from opening until 10:30am, and since I got seen pretty much right away on a Thursday morning before 10, I'd say this is pretty accurate. In talking to the employee, he said it's usually busiest first thing in the morning, at lunch, and around 3pm. Since this office has to send the application off to another one, you just get the standard turnaround time, which at the time of my application, was about six weeks. To my surprise, the passports arrived in the mail less than three weeks later, so I think that going into this office is still worth it if you're doing a standard passport application. read more