Veterans Affairs committee  What would help the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires provide more jobs to veterans is better information sharing, which would ensure that armed forces members nearing retirement had the information they needed to make better choices.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Veterans Affairs committee  In my humble opinion, it doesn't happen enough. Currently, it's tough for us to reach out to men and women in uniform because we have limited access, even when we know they are retiring soon.

Veterans Affairs committee  First of all, we are not in all federal buildings. The government has a multitude of contractual vehicles. Yes, we have a contract called the NMSO, but there are others. For example, CRA went to a tender, as did CATSA and you name it. There's a huge amount of security work that i

Veterans Affairs committee  In the federal government, it's not about the number of veterans; it's about hours of work, and it's about 38% or so.

Veterans Affairs committee  Keep in mind, for example, that this past quarter, 1.3 million hours were worked by veterans. In all of those 1.3 million hours, 450,000 hours were worked in commercial settings, because there's no federal facility.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's not easy to recruit, of course, as I said earlier. You asked whether that is an unrealistic target. It sure is. It's not needed. It doesn't bring anything to veteran employment at all. The two are mutually exclusive.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, the percentage has stabilized, as we expected, for many reasons. The demographic bubble has sort of deflated now. The economy is such that more people are looking for work. Also, we are recruiting extensively, using all available recruiting means you can think of.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's also family members of veterans. Do you have those numbers?

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll pass the mike to our chief of staff here, but before I do that I'll just say that you're quite right. Roughly 70% of veterans do not have a pension, because the average retirement age is 36 years old.

Veterans Affairs committee  Our workforce from coast to coast is approximately 21,000 to 22,000. As I said, we employ about 4,400 veterans.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. Keep in mind that this may seem like a low ratio, but veterans work for us in many places, in fact, in about 1,200 communities, many of which do not have a federal building to work in.

Veterans Affairs committee  For example, about 10 years ago in Kirkland Lake we had three veterans who needed work. We found a contract but we needed about eight or nine people. Well, we had to hire non-veterans as well to service that contract in order help the veterans in need.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's an excellent question, but I don't think I'm the best person to answer that. When the department posts jobs, it needs to encourage veterans to apply and recognize the skills they bring to the table. That said, more and more members of the department's workforce are vetera

Veterans Affairs committee  I can't answer that.