First of all, once an ombudsman is put in place, that person would have to decide on the make-up of their team. My understanding is that at DND it took them about a year, I think, from the time that an ombudsman was actually named until they actually got in business. I believe it was up to a year. Please don't quote me on that, but I understand that was the general timeframe. Having said that, the types of things that have to be done, in my view, are the following.
The ombudsman has to be able to staff jobs. That has to be done through the public service using public service staffing rules. There may be some need for contract employees, and that would have to follow Government of Canada procurement policies. Staffing and procurement are not things that happen overnight. So that is one of the things.
There would have to be a decision on the location of the ombudsman, the physical infrastructure. The ombudsman is going to need office space, computer hookups, and what have you.
Also, the ombudsman, whoever is appointed, really needs to think about what the mix of the team is. He or she would need people, in my view-and having talked to various ombudspersons around town, a variety of people would be needed—people with a legal background, people with a background in administrative investigations, etc.
I think the other thing, too, that would have to be put in place is processes and procedures in terms of dealing with the department. In fact most ombudsman models—I think Mr. Winzenberg stressed this when he was here on Monday—try to do it at the lowest level, try to do it fast. Every case doesn't have to be brought to the attention of the deputy minister or the ombudsman. Hopefully, people working in the ombudsman's office can resolve issues on a bilateral basis with a program officer or an area counsellor or what have you.
So there would have to be some of these administrative processes, but certainly from the standpoint of the department, we are quite capable and quite willing and able to support the ombudsman in terms of helping set up the administration. As for how that would happen, at the end of the day, we would have to wait and see.