I think that we can all agree that it would certainly have helped the system operate properly if the pay system experts who were already working in the public service had been kept. They would probably have been much better placed to train the new people who were going to be employees in the Miramichi Pay Centre sooner or later. In addition, they also already had a very instinctive understanding of what a pay system requires.
It seems logical to me. You can't send everyone with expertise in and a knowledge of the system off into retirement without really having conducted tests and reassured everyone that the new system is well managed and that it works properly. The fact that we have 1,600 employees in the pay centre rather than the anticipated 500 or 600, proves that we cannot do without human expertise.