I just had to get my canadian passport on short notice -- what I had to do is

1. went to a passport office that had a dropoff and pickup
2. waited the 3 hrs at the time
3. paid the extra 10$ on top of the fee for pickup service at that location
4. provided proof that i had to fly out to the US in 3 weeks, so they made sure it was ready in 2 weeks
....
5. came back and picked it up in the 2 weeks in time to fly.

Now, my timing was bad since it was close to march break. We just went recently to renew my BFs passport, and went to the same location, and were in and out in about 20 mins including the confirmation of his application, etc.



If you're just renewing your passport, you can bring it to a certified agent location at a Canada Post office, and do the mail thing -- just be prepared to wait a long time (up to like 4 months). They will rush it for you if you have to fly though