Thank you for your question.
Although I'm optimistic by nature, I must say that there are still problems that need to be resolved. We are slowly chipping away at the backlog of transactions. Of course, we may encounter unforseen challenges.
The creation of pay pods is an excellent measure that has helped us make progress on the Phoenix file. Using that approach, we have reduced the backlog of transactions by 24% in three departments. The idea for this approach came from employees in Miramichi. We listened to the ideas of those who are working on this system and it has paid off. Obviously, we will have to add the collective agreements to the system.
We are also hiring more students this summer. However, we can assure you that things will go better than they did last summer, just as things went better last summer than they did the summer before. Progress is being made, even though it is taking time.
I hope that the creation of pay pods will speed up our progress. This continues to be a challenge for the public service.