Mr. Speaker, concerning the issue of national job postings, it is certainly very wise in theory. It is part of the federal-provincial effort to have a nation state of the free movement of goods, capital and labour within our country.
However there is a practical problem with regard to the specific advertisement that the member spoke about for the paralegal when 1,000 files arrive within seven days in an office. Historically there has been no physical capability for handling that.
In response to the member for Cumberland--Colchester and other members who have been worried about this issue, and certainly the members in our party have worried about this issue, the PSC wrote a report in November, which will come back this month or next month, on some pilot projects that it is running. We have to find a way to have wide open hiring and to give an opportunity to young people.
The other issue is, if we have national hiring for the capital region, what about regional restrictions for someone who may want to apply for a job in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia? Should a university graduate from UBC be able to go down there and knock somebody out? Therefore there may be some regional issues there.
What members need to do is talk to the Public Service Commission and find out what it is doing. How many members of Parliament have walked down the street and talked to officials at the Public Service Commission? I think I am the only member who has gone there in two years. Instead of continuing to talk in the clouds here about what is going on, members should talk to the officials at PSC, find out what they are doing, what the practical problems are and what they are actually doing to respond to that issue. In theory, they are on the right side but there are practical problems with delivering it.