There's a potential danger in calling class Bs “contracts” and taking the Treasury Board contracting policy and applying it. It doesn't fit. But in speaking to that, I think all the principles still are very sound, and at the end of it all, we are expected to ensure that we're open and transparent in all of this, to ensure as a first thing that if I have someone in my organization who leaves early and there is no one to fill that position.... What do I do? Option one is that I promote somebody from the merit list. That's always the first option.
But in many cases—not to make this issue more complex—many of the positions we're talking about are positions outside of the established Canadian Forces. This is the crux of the issue. For example, I'm not entitled to and don't have a driver, but let's say hypothetically that I need a driver. I could establish a class B contract for a driver, put out that call letter for a contract of one, two, or three years, if I had the funds available to do it. If I didn't, I couldn't do it. But in the end I'd have to proceed as I explained before: it's not a contract, but at the same time I'd have to follow all those regulations.
But that position isn't in the regular force establishment, because someone has said to me that they don't think I'm entitled to this. Therein lies the challenge, as mentioned in the other question: ensuring that there is—and there is—effective oversight over the hiring of class B folks, and more importantly, establishing or sending out job offers on class B across the Canadian Forces. And that's what we need to do.