I want to go back to when the flexible posting plan was put in place. This was to address attrition, but it was also to address one of the recommendations of the MCC report, wherein the organization was criticized for members being in areas and not knowing the provincial history, the area and whatnot.
When you combine the attrition rate with how most people joining the RCMP at the time were, on average, 29 years old, coming out of school or having families, that's why our numbers shot from 15,000 or 17,000 to 20,000 interested applicants for two years in a row. We were bringing people back to their respective provinces and whatnot.
We became conscious and realized over time that it impacted specific divisions. A division is a province or territory. It impacted Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and the territory of Nunavut. At one point, we reset the flexible posting. With anybody who was coming into the organization through the recruiting process and was interested in going to Saskatchewan or Manitoba, we'd fast-track them through the process. They wouldn't skip any steps, but they'd be fast-tracked through the process and posted directly to Saskatchewan or Manitoba.
I can share with you that since we changed this.... I was talking with the commanding officer of Manitoba, and he is now in a position whereby he can release regular members and put frontline patrol members on specialized units within his division, because he's seen an increase in people in his division.
There are some adjustments. I recognize some of the issues—I'm not going to say “damage”—that were encountered by some of the divisions, but we adjusted. Right now, when someone comes through, we explain our operational needs, but we're also flexible. If we can send someone back home to their province, we'll send them back home.
British Columbia is a good example in which the cost of living is higher than in most parts of Canada. The commanding officer and I.... I have always told him that if he can load 32 people in a troop, we'll send them all back to British Columbia.