Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think this is a great opportunity for us to seek first-hand knowledge in terms of following up on our mandate to improve on the program or with respect to what the intent of this committee is.
This past summer I did visit with a number of organizations that were running programs with Canada summer jobs. In many cases the young adults who were delivering those programs were returning students. If I recall correctly from some of the statistics that we received in a previous presentation, in 2022 almost 50% of the students continued on with permanent employment following Canada summer jobs, but I think that's information we can get from the earlier testimony.
From my perspective I am more interested in the logistics and what happens on the ground in terms of how well we serve the employer applicants and the student applicants. I appreciate the many challenges that CSJ creates for applicant planning, budgeting and interviewing and then the onboarding of the students.
With respect to the timelines, what I heard back from my constituents was the frustration that employers had with respect to the deadlines and then onboarding of individuals. It was interesting to hear the same concern from Mr. Rempel.
Could you just explain in a little more detail what types of challenges you're facing in terms of the logistics of the program and in terms of the effectiveness of the program, and whether you have some recommendations on how we could improve the application process, the approval process and the timelines for the onboarding?
Then I'd like to come back to you with an additional question with respect to the flexibility that you would like to see inside the programs as well.
Mr. Rempel, I'll turn it over to you.