Of course, the demographic realities we are seeing right now are a factor, but they go back quite a few years. When I joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1971, the Canadian Armed Forces had twice as many troops as they do now, which meant that a lot more members retired every year. That number is significantly lower today. We are nevertheless able to hire a high percentage of those veterans.
One of the other problems we have—and Ms. Lowther touched on this—is how difficult it can be to reach out to veterans at the source. It would probably be a good idea to provide a better gateway to the Department of National Defence so that we and all employers could promote our services to future veterans at the department level.