Government Operations committee  There should be powers either with the commission or with another appointment agency. There should be broader powers.

Government Operations committee  There are a number of things the Ethics Commissioner can handle, too.

Government Operations committee  Times and circumstances change, and you have to react to the times and circumstances and make sure that your legislation is up to date. On the specific clause you're referring to, we have the powers to investigate improper political activity of a deputy minister if the complaint

Government Operations committee  Well, we do actually have cases of that. My investigators and auditors have been threatened, and that we have to manage, but this particular clause is for protections in front of the courts. Maybe I can ask Mr. Arseneault to explain it technically. It's just so they are protect

Government Operations committee  Especially in the case of a non-imperative position. If an individual wins a competition for a non-imperative position, that person is required to become bilingual, and the employer is required to provide the necessary training.

Government Operations committee  I would say the increase has more to do with the deputy minister's decision to take a more direct approach and to staff positions through the post-secondary recruitment program. It allows federal organizations to hire university graduates directly, without having to go through te

Government Operations committee  Exactly, absolutely.

Government Operations committee  There are two parts to your question. In the case of ACOA, we have received specific complaints from a member of Parliament. When I receive specific complaints, what I do is send them to my investigative unit. This is a unit that does investigations, using a quasi-judicial type

Government Operations committee  No.

Government Operations committee  Well, that's an interesting question. We've always made a distinction between the hiring regimes of the core public service and the crown corporations. I think there would have to be some careful thought about what we really want to do with the crown corporations.

Government Operations committee  Not exactly. We do have a lot of discussions with universities. We talk to them about the skills we are looking for, especially in the field of public administration, but we also have some discussions on the use of our language tests. One of our recommendations is intended to gi

Government Operations committee  I will direct that question to my official languages champion. I have the sense it has not changed all that much.

Government Operations committee  Yes, we do. In fact, the government has put some additional money into that for the last couple of years as part of the economic action plan. We have, on average, about 10,000 young people who come and get mostly summer employment. We also have about 3,000 co-op students who co

Government Operations committee  I did not make myself clear.

Government Operations committee  Those 400 positions are senior appointments in the public service. The PSC is not responsible for those 400 appointments. I think we need another mechanism to oversee those 400 appointments. I did not make any observations or comments in relation to the 2,600 appointments, becau