Before I turn it over to Ms. Jauvin to answer the question, I want to just express my support for your concern about dealing with the demographic change in the public service. That is a very important issue.
It was something that, for example, I learned firsthand when I was in the provincial government in Manitoba back in 1998. We were negotiating contracts with the RCMP, and we were told at that time that within five years, one-half of the RCMP officers would be eligible for retirement. We had incredible struggles trying to get sufficient RCMP officers, since they act in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and to a large extent B.C. as the municipal police forces. They're contracted to the provinces.
To our amazement, the federal government at the time shut down RCMP Depot training in Regina. So instead of putting out about 1,000 officers a year, they just shut it down. That complicated the issue of retirements, first of all, and then, by shutting down the training at the RCMP Depot, we've had to play catch-up for years.
Take a riding like mine, for instance, in rural Manitoba; I was just speaking to the staff sergeant in Saint-Pierre-Jolys, and he has six of thirteen positions filled. It's a tremendous burden our RCMP officers are facing. Our government has responded by trying to catch up not by training 800 to 1,000 a year but by boosting recruitment up to 1,800 a year. It's putting a lot of pressure on the RCMP to get that.
That left me with an impression, as a former civil servant as well as a provincially elected individual, with regard to the importance of training and also bearing in mind demographics. Clearly that was an example of demographics not taken into account, coupled with a bad policy decision.