Thank you, Mr. Chair, and my thanks go to you, Mr. Hamilton, and to your colleagues for being here today.
I'm certainly encouraged by the commitment you've made in your public statements here and also in the steps you've outlined concerning improvements. You've done a great job of outlining the challenges you face.
The first one that you outlined is the volume. That alone to me is overwhelming—a 61% increase in the number of pages being reviewed. None of us here would be able to survive a 61% inflation rate, so I think it's understandable that you've had a major challenge there. But if you add to that the reorganization, the Parks Canada requests, and also the departure of many of your ATIP officers, there's no question that you have faced severe challenges.
I want to come back for a moment to the ATIP professional development program that you spoke of, and the shortage of staff, training of ATIP workers, the need for them to have an in-depth knowledge of your department. I think all of us understand that, but for me the part that is difficult to understand is that, if I have understood it, there's only one university providing some kind of ground-level training program for workers in this field.
I would ask two things. One is, are there other universities that would plan to start these kinds of programs, or is it possibly to your advantage to do training that is specific to the department so that you have the qualities that are needed to meet the demands of your unique situation?