Anyway, it's a very long period, and it has actually gotten longer. If you're taking months and months, let alone years, to hire someone, the chance that they will find a job somewhere else is pretty high.
If the systems can't be more efficient and you can't hire people quickly, I think you're going to lose the best. That is why there is a lot of use of term positions, to get people in to do the job because the hiring process is so long and complex.
As well, there's a question about the uncertainty of funding in many cases. It's difficult to bring in people to full-time positions for a program if you don't think you will have the funding for that program next year.
There is a real need to focus on the time it takes to actually hire people. It's twenty-three and a half weeks, so it's over six months to hire. That is the average, so you can be sure there are some that are longer than that. People will turn to these other mechanisms to get the people in that they need.
I agree that there is still an issue. I do hope, though, that these changes that have been introduced by this legislation will put more focus on this and will improve some of those systems. As we point out in the report, there certainly needs to be better information on whether these objectives are actually being accomplished or not.