We've done some analysis and we have notional ideas. I don't want to give specific numbers right now because they may be incorrect, but we can provide those to you.
There's a huge cost. It takes six months to staff a passport officer position using the processes that are in place for the public service right now. We've had enormous support from the Public Service Commission through this period of massive hiring to try to expedite that process, and we're working with them on new tools to make that a better system for us.
The Public Service Modernization Act makes staffing a long, slow process. Passport officers have to be hired nationally; they cannot be hired regionally any longer. Before, if you needed somebody in Saguenay, you'd open a competition in Saguenay and see who applied. Now, if you need somebody in Saguenay, you have to open it out of Ottawa and anybody who lives anywhere in the country can apply, so you get thousands of applications for essentially one opening. This makes staffing long and expensive.
We're using a third methodology to promote from within and try to give people career paths within the organization, but there still needs to be an influx of new people, so that slows it down. It is only in the last year that we've had that specific problem.
Our training process is four weeks in the classroom and ten weeks of apprenticeship to ensure the person is qualified. The classroom work is in class in regional centres and we fly people in to them. That's a huge cost.