No, le program avec les cadets falls under the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. You'll want to pose him the questions.
I could answer questions about the program, but that would only be my view. He actually runs the program.
He is responsible for the Cadet Program.
You referenced double-dipping. I'll give you a long answer to a short question.
First, does it happen? Yes. Second, I think we have to put this all into a broader perspective. It's just not for senior people; it's actually for wherever there is a position across the Canadian Forces that we're having a difficulty in bringing folks in. We have the caporal chef involved in the same issue. What came out in the press was the senior folks, but it actually happens at almost every rank level throughout the Canadian Forces in some way.
What it speaks to--just to make sure we have the context--is someone who leaves the Canadian Forces, draws a pension...
I would just make the point here that drawing a pension is a right. I cannot turn to anyone and say they're not entitled to draw their pension. It is a right.
So they draw their pension, and then a job opportunity comes up that actually goes out on the street. It's important that I speak to that. The job opportunity is a very open, transparent process. If I need to have a driver, I will send out, for any reservist, a job opportunity letter saying I'm looking for a driver, caporal chef, master corporal, sergeant or corporal, and someone will come forward.
In the end, what I can tell you in that context is that I have no idea, until we interview them, if that person has already come from the Canadian Forces or is a part-time reservist. In the end, if you look at the process to hire people, it's very open and transparent. What it speaks to, and we talked about it, is that there has been an experience gap between the age group of 19 and 24 years in the last three, four or five years with people leaving.
In many cases, those have been filled. Most of them are at the senior level by senior people who have come back.
On the one hand, the question would be: So what do you do? Do you not bring someone back who's already been in the forces, to bring back the knowledge for a short period of time? This is the other piece that didn't come out. The contract is a three-year contract, it's not another 20 years. C'est seulement pour trois ans. After three years the contract ends, or after one year, and then the job offer has to go out, if it's needed. That's the context.
We are looking at all of this from a class B perspective--you have already heard it, the question was posed—as perhaps reducing some of the class B job offers or opportunities. We're looking at the entire program and actually, perhaps, bringing it down.
As we move ahead, here's the issue. As I always remind people, how many years does it take to get 20 years of experience? It takes 20 years.
When I have everyone who leaves between 19 and 24, even though I can recruit 7,000 a year, I'm not going to see those folks for another 15 or 16 years. This is why I now have a knowledge gap and is why we went out with the letters to bring people in. That's what you saw. It was this thing we call double-dipping.
I want to remind members of the committee, Mr. Chair, that it is no different on the public service side. You can still leave the military with a pension and get a job as a public servant, particularly if you're an injured person who has been wounded. You have priority in hiring. It's not a phenomenon to just the military. It happens across the public service.
It's the same with contractors. I can't tell you if any of the contractors used to be in the Canadian Forces or not. Many have. In essence, you would say they're also double-dipping. It comes back to one issue, which is, who has the job knowledge and the experience to meet the need for the short term, 19 to 24? It's starting to come down. We'll see that here in the next while.
But it does happen. That is the policy. It has been a policy. It is actually driven out of Treasury Board. There are very clear regulations—three years and there has to be a break every year. I won't get into the details, but it has allowed us in the end to meet that job gap that we're missing.