Government Operations committee  Yes, I agree. When the policy was being developed, in 2011, that was one of the questions asked. It was a matter of determining whether the policy should be entrusted to National Defence or Veterans Affairs Canada. At that time, the decision was made to give that responsibility t

Government Operations committee  That's already done, Mr. Chair. That's already in the process right now. The Public Service Commission is responsible for overseeing and monitoring the process. In our opinion, that's not the challenge. At the end of the day, the issue is why that hiring manager should hire a vet

Government Operations committee  Every party supports it. It's about getting the individual hired. It's an implementation issue. It has been for the last eight years.

Government Operations committee  That's a fact, and the policy says it shouldn't. The policy is clear that if you meet the qualifications, competencies and skills, you should be the one who is picked. That's what we developed in 2011.

Government Operations committee  It is more about how the hiring manager, at the end of the day, gets to say no about you when they phone back to the Public Service Commission to say, “I didn't pick Mr. McCauley for the following reasons.” That's where it ends. If there were targets, it would be very different

Government Operations committee  Just as “soldier” does vice “fonctionnaire”.

Government Operations committee  I'll make a tough comment here. When we were developing a policy in 2011, it was the public service union that came to the department and would not allow us to expand the policy. All they would agree to at the time was to open it up for medically released veterans, who then had a