Information & Ethics committee  It's not mandatory, but many more organizations are doing it.

Information & Ethics committee  It spikes because it's based on a static population. We're using the base of where we are now, but we're not factoring in new hires or turnover. So if we stayed the same as now, that would be the projected retirement--

Information & Ethics committee  Yes.

Information & Ethics committee  There is still some discussion under way with the Public Service Commission surrounding who a competition or a process may be open to. Priority is given to Canadian residents first. That's a discussion that has been ongoing with the Public Service Commission. We have to keep in tune with this.

Information & Ethics committee  The area from which people can apply is not restricted. It's open to all Canadians across Canada. So the results have indicated that the qualified person has been from a certain geographical location, but—

Information & Ethics committee  In the last six months?

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I would say. All the jobs that are open to the public, excluding the clerical positions, have an area of selection open to all Canadians.

Information & Ethics committee  We can provide that back to you, yes.

Information & Ethics committee  We're still able to attract a good quantity of candidates. It hasn't seemed to have hindered our ability to attract. We do submit annual reports to central agencies, reporting on our management practices, and the feedback received from them has been quite favourable. In April 2006, following the removal of staffing delegation, we did receive it back, as we had indicated to the Public Service Commission that....

Information & Ethics committee  It depends, but generally, if we're doing a full process where we're advertising it, it would be between three and six months, and that may or may not include the requirement for security clearance.

Information & Ethics committee  Outside of the government, yes. Within the government, it's probably average.

Information & Ethics committee  The advertisements are done through a service provided through the Public Service Commission of Canada. We present our information to them and we post, we get clearance. If they're external to the public, then we use the service through the Public Service Commission. If they're within the government, for employees, we have an internal mechanism.

Information & Ethics committee  The website that is used is jobs.gc.ca. That's the common government site that is used to post externally. The length of posting can depend, based on the nature of the job, your anticipated applicants, etc.

Information & Ethics committee  I think we have one that's closing today for a clerical position.

Information & Ethics committee  At the clerical level, it's within the national capital region right now. We've extended it to include some perimeter areas such as Kingston, Maniwaki, Pembroke. We've gone that circumference.