Does everything seem broken? (Part 3)

The ongoing saga of getting OAS

On January 12 of this year, I posted an article about my application to receive Old Age Security (OAS).

To make a long story short, 210 days passed between the time I applied and payments began to be deposited in my bank account. This only occurred because my application was “expedited” after being placed on “urgent” status because normal processing times (either 120 days or 150 days – conflicting information was provided).

I was curious, so dug into the Departmental Results Reports of Employment and Social Development Canada. Doing a little math (dividing the number of people turning 65 every year by the number of employees in the branch processing claims), I determined that every employee processes about 70 applications per year – that is, it takes about 3 person days of government civil service staff time to process one application.

It seemed to me, that this seemed to be a very low level of productivity. I wrote to the (two) Minister(s) responsible for the program to ask (a) whether my calculations were correct, and (b) why productivity was so low, and (c) what was being done to improve the situation.

I waited a month and didn’t get a response.

So, I reported on this to my readers.

A few weeks later, I got a response from a Michel Dubé – identified as:

A/Director – CPP/OAS Operational Policy and CPP-D Operations

Seniors and Pensioners Directorate

Service Design and Reporting Branch

Integrated Services Strategy and Operations

Service Canada

Mr. Dubé basically ducked my questions. He assured me that:

I want to assure you that the provision of good service is one of the fundamental principles to which Service Canada is committed.

And

I appreciate receiving your views. Comments such as yours are taken into consideration during the Department’s ongoing efforts to ensure that services remain responsive to the needs of Canadians.

That’s nice.

Significantly, Mr. Dubé did not challenge my information or math. In the rules of evidence, silence can sometimes be considered as agreement or affirmation. This suggests that the productivity standards are in the range of 1 application processed for every 3 days of civil service time.

It seemed clear that the two Ministers of the Crown responsible for the OAS program had no intention of being responsible for their programs. Further, I had no desire to further trouble Mr. Dubé. He had been polite, albeit not overly informative.

I forgot about the matter.

Until yesterday.

What I found in my mailbox

When I checked the mail two days ago, there was a letter from Service Canada.

“That’s odd,” I said to my wife. “I wonder what they are writing to me about.”

I opened the letter. It began:

Dear MARK STOBBE

We have approved your application for the OLD AGE SECURITY (OAS) pension.

It went on to explain my entitlement. The letter was dated April 20, 2026. That’s interesting. Given that the first payment appeared in my bank account on December 9, 2025, that either means that:

1. I’ve been paid for the last several months without my application being authorized,

Or

2. It took the government 133 days to send me a form letter.

Neither alternative is particularly comforting, although I hope the second is true. It would eliminate the possibility of me being – in about six years – being dinged for receiving money without proper authorization.

In any event, if this represents what would have been the normal processing time for an OAS application, we are at 343 days between receipt of the application and the claim being approved.

Phooey.

And don’t forget the post office

Then we have Canada Post.

The letter was dated April 20. It was delivered on May 6. That means it took Canada Post 16 days to deliver a highly urgent, official, government-originated, first-class letter.

It was mailed from Winnipeg. According to Google Maps, it travelled 580 km or 360 miles. That means it moved at a rate of 36.25 km or 22.5 miles per day.

Seriously.

A person could walk more quickly than that.

In 1860, the Pony Express delivered mail from Missouri to California. The route was 1,966 miles. On average, it took 10 days to deliver a letter. That’s an average of 196.6 miles per day.

By my math, the pony express was 8.74 times FASTER than Canada Post.

And the Pony Express used – well, ponies – to deliver the mail.