When it comes to recruitment and retention, the issue we're having is that we work on a scale in the province. Every year you work, you go up a scale. When it comes to firefighting, you have only a four- or five-month season, so it takes you three years to move up. You come into Alberta, you get the experience and you move on to another area. That's what's happening. We're losing the depth of knowledge we need to fight these fires. We have people with two or three years of experience who are doing the best they can. They are working hard and they are saving people's lives and property.
What it boils down to, when you look at it, is that every year it's the same thing. Last year Minister Loewen was supposed to have them hired by March. It was still well into May when we had brand new people going into fires. It wasn't just the Jasper fire. Remember, we had 55 out-of-control fires across this province and evacuations in Fort McMurray and different areas.