So, my MP's assistant called me back this morning, as promised, and let me know what he found out, which was basically what was in our GCMS notes. He said the MPs really can't "put the screws to CIC" (his words) until after the published processing time has passed (12 months or so), and that lately Ottawa has been asking for passports earlier and earlier, meaning COPRs are taking longer after PPR. He complained about the closure of Buffalo, said that Ottawa was overloaded, and said he hopes in the next election his party can come to power to clean up the mess made by the "current government." I imagine MPs spend a lot of time on inquiries like ours... So, none of that is really news or surprising.
On the plus side, he did offer to help find out about how to register our kids for school in September if we haven't yet received our COPRs by then, which is really probably above and beyond the call of duty, since schools seem to be mostly a provincial matter. But he seemed genuinely interested in helping and actually curious about what the answer might be for us, since I've already been approved as sponsor and the wife and kids are visa-exempt and already have their CSQs. I was encouraged by his willingness to look into this for us. Hopefully it will be a moot point by then, but since it's already been 99 days since PPR, all bets are off!
